


Loki Borson and the Mysterious Rings

by silver_drip



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Alternate Universe - Magic, Mystery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-28
Updated: 2018-01-12
Packaged: 2018-12-08 02:12:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 29,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11636814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silver_drip/pseuds/silver_drip
Summary: Loki just wanted to have a peaceful first year at Hogwarts.Luck was never on his side, though.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve read exactly zero HP fanfics and read the books years ago, so please forgive any inaccuracies. 
> 
> Special thanks to Temul (the best Beta every), ItsBlueRio, RenneMicheals, and Ykmust 
> 
> I normally don't start posting a story unless it's finished, but I've been feeling super depressed this week so I decided just to do it.

Loki clung to the side of the boat as he vomited up the pastry his mother had made just for him. The other first years laughed and jeered at him.

This was not how Loki wanted to start off his life at Hogwarts.

At least Thor wasn’t here to make fun of him.

Once it was all out he felt boneless in the worst way.

“Dude, that sucks,” another first year said. His blond hair was disheveled and he was chewing on bubblegum. “I’m Clint Barton.”

“Loki Borson.”

“Borson? As in  _ Thor Borson? _ I heard he’s the reason Gryffindor won the house cup last year!”

Loki rolled his eyes. Of course, even a first year knew about his brother.

“Yes, we are unfortunately related.”

“Were you excited when he was made a beater in his first year? That like, never happens!”

“Barton!” a young redheaded girl said sharply. Clint flinched and turned towards her.

“Yes, Ms. Romanoff?” He sounded professional, contrasting with his messy appearance.

“He obviously doesn’t feel good. Leave him alone.” She tugged at his messy robes and he fell backwards, making the boat rock harder.

Loki gagged, but nothing new came up.

Why did he have to get sea sick—They weren’t even on the sea, just a lake!

Life wasn’t fair.

The boat lurched as they hit the shore.

Loki couldn’t decide if he was grateful for that or not.

He clambered over the other students, ignoring their protests. He stumbled on the lip of the boat, landing face-first in the mud.

“Why?” Loki whispered, trying not to cry.

“Need a hand?”

Loki looked up at the young girl. She looked like a nine-year-old. Loki took her offered hand and stood. He towered over her, but he was lanky for his age.

“Thank you.” He straightened his robes. “I’m Loki.” He didn’t use his last name. He wasn’t going to make that mistake again.

“I’m Jemma Simmons and this is my best friend Leo Fitz.” Leo was taller than Jemma, but not by much. They linked hands together. “We’re going to be in Ravenclaw together.”

Loki felt his nausea being replaced by dread.

Every Borson for the last three centuries had been sorted into Gryffindor. Loki had never been like his brother or father, though.

If not Gryffindor, hopefully Ravenclaw. His mother had been Ravenclaw…

He had a 50/50 chance of not being completely ridiculed by his father when he saw him next—Unless he sent a Howler and scolded him in front of everyone. Loki wouldn’t put it past him. Loki would die of embarrassment if that happened.

“What are those?” Loki asked while reeling away from the strange looking creatures and bumping into the redheaded girl from before.

“Thestrals. Aren’t the Borsons purebloods?  You should already know what a thestral is,” Natasha said without looking at him. Clint helped her get into one of the thestral drawn carriages.

Loki narrowed his lips and decided to take a different carriage.

Clint gave him an apologetic look as he followed Natasha into the carriage.

“She’s scary,” Jemma whispered.

“She’s a Romanoff,” Leo added on. “They’re supposed to be scary.”

“Slytherin,” they said together while nodding.

“Geez, Loki, stop holding up the line.” Sif shouldered him aside, getting into a carriage. Loki glared at her, but held his tongue.

*

The first years were shifting around him nervously. Many were chanting under their breath the house they wanted to be put in.

Loki could hear Thor’s cheering over the rest of the Gryffindors’ as the Sorting Hat named Sif to their house.

Loki laughed nervously when Hogun was put into Hufflepuff. One less person for Thor to make noise with.

But if Loki was put in Hufflepuff then Hogun would just report to Thor everything he did.

There was never a winning situation for Loki when it came to Thor and his friends.

“Anthony Stark!”

The name caught Loki’s attention. Their headmaster’s last name was Stark.  

Loki glanced around. No first-years were stepping forward.

“Anthony Stark!”

The headmaster sighed and covered his eyes. He made a hand gesture.

Seven more names were called before—

“Loki Borson!”

He was frozen in place.

“That’s you, isn’t it,” Jemma whispered. Loki nodded and stepped forward.

All eyes landed on him.

Thor began cheering and whistling madly, as if Loki had already been put into Gryffindor.

By some miracle he didn’t trip.

The sorting hat felt heavy and he briefly thought about how easily it could spread lice—

“Slytherin!”

“What?”

No one heard him over the Syltherin table’s cheering.

He met Thor’s eyes.

He looked so disappointed.

*

Loki didn’t know what to do with himself as he was lead deeper into Hogwarts.

He didn’t know anyone in Slytherin.

Odin was going to be so disappointed in him—Loki was the first Borson to be put into Slytherin. Borsons were lions!

Not snakes.

“It’s good to see another pureblood in my year. I’m Natalia Alianova Romanoff. You may call me Natasha.” Her nose was held high. She looked snide, but so was he.

“Why did Clint address you so formally?”

“The Bartons live on my family’s land. They serve the Romanoffs. Clint was  _ supposed _ to be in Slytherin with me, but…”

“Hufflepuff.”

“Exactly. I saw it coming, but I was hopeful.” She narrowed her eyes. “Hope is always a mistake.”

Loki nodded in agreement. He’d let hope knock him down more times than he could remember.

He was still reeling.

Loki wasn’t supposed to be a Slytherin.

He was a Borson.

Borsons were Gryffindors.

*

Loki couldn’t sleep.

The green sheets of his bed sickened him.

The wet feeling in the air weighed him down.

The sound of the lake above them made him feel claustrophobic.

He was supposed to be in Gryffindor Tower, high above with his chin held up proudly.

Now he was a snake, hiding in its hole.

His tossing and turning ended with the sunrise; not that he could tell considering how deep underground they were.

He refused to don the green and silver tie that had appeared on his trunk at some point during the night.

He put on a black tie instead.

When he made it to the common room Natasha eyed him critically, but didn’t say anything.

“If you’re a first year, hold back,” a sharp voice said.

Loki made sure he was in the back of the crowd, not wanting the other Slytherins to get annoyed at him if house points were deducted because of his tie.

A tall boy that resembled Clint stood to the left and slightly behind Natasha. Loki wondered what their relationship was. (Another Romanoff servant like Clint, probably.)

“This year you’ll make a lot of mistakes and bring down our house points. I intend for us to win the House Cup, so keep your heads down and keep your noses clean. Dismissed.” Professor Fury watched them go with a hard look. “Not you, Borson.”

Loki froze. Was he already in trouble? It was only his first day. He didn’t want to ever be called out, especially by a professor.

They waited until the common room had been vacated.

“Yes, professor?” Loki asked, his voice shaking.

Fury fished out a silver ring from his tattered black trench coat.

“Put this on” Fury ordered while handing it over. Loki was too intimidated to ask why. He quickly slipped it onto the middle finger of his right hand. Fury pulled out his wand. “ _ Reformare _ .” The ring tightened on his finger, fitting perfectly. “Don’t ever take this off. If it becomes too tight ask me or Professor Zola to refit it. Understood?” Loki nodded dumbly, feeling his throat tighten. “And go change your tie. Show some pride.”

Loki hurried off, not knowing what to think.

*

Loki, of course, got lost.

When he found his way out of the dungeons, breakfast was over.

He also had no idea how to get to his History of Magic class. His schedule said it as in room 72, but gave no indication where that was.

Loki stared at the moving staircases. There was no one else around.

His confusion mixed with frustration.

Everything was wrong. He wasn’t in Gryffindor. A professor called him out. He missed breakfast. And now he was lost.

He wiped away the tears in his eyes and shifted his bag.

There was a creaking to Loki’s left, catching his attention.

A boy around his age stepped out from behind a tapestry. He blinked his honey brown eyes in surprise while taking a bite out of a glaze covered roll. He was wearing standard robes, but missing a tie that would show his house colors.

“Sup?” he asked, crumbs falling out of his mouth.

Loki let out a relieved sigh.

“I’m lost,” Loki admitted while sniffling.

The other boy shoved the roll in his pocket.

“What class are you heading to?” Loki handed over his schedule, afraid his voice would break if he spoke. “Room 72. That’s on the third floor. If we don’t hurry you’re going to be late.” He gave Loki his schedule back, leaving sticky fingerprints behind. “We’re going to have to run.”

He glanced around before grabbing Loki’s hand.

They took off down the twisting corridor. Loki’s bag slapped against his thigh as they ran.

They took a sharp right into a corridor that looked like any other.

Loki was yanked to a stop. The other boy had a calculating look on his voice.

“Do you trust me?”

“Um, yes?” Loki didn’t understand why he’d ask that.

“Follow my directions  _ exactly _ .”

Before Loki could question him, he was pulling Loki into a run up the staircase.

It began to shift and the only reason he didn’t fall was because of the other boy’s strong grip on his hand.

Right before they reached the top it connected to another staircase, but didn’t stop moving.

The inertia almost threw him off balance. He squeezed the other boy’s hand tightly, feeling out of breath.

From that stairway, they bolted into a corridor. They were both panting.

They reached more staircases and Loki wasn’t sure he’d be able to make it up them.

The one they started scaling was thankfully immobile—but led to nowhere.

“Wha—”

“Jump!” They went sailing over the edge. Loki screamed his lungs out, barely hearing, “ _ stabilis _ !”

Orange magic twisted around them as they fell. They didn’t go tail over teakettle as they landed on a new, shifting stairway.

Loki’s fingernails were digging into the other boy’s hand.

He laughed and Loki gave him an incredulous look.

“You’re insane,” Loki said between gasps.

“No time to waste!” Loki’s lungs were nearly on fire when they reached the top.

A few corridors later they were in front of room 72. Other students were still walking into it.

“Later!” the other boy said while fishing his glazed rolled out of his pocket and walking off.

“You missed breakfast,” Natasha said, startling Loki. She handed Loki a napkin full of leftovers.

“Thank you.” Loki’s heart was hammering. His adrenaline rush had distracted him from the gnawing hunger in his stomach.

“How do you know Stark?” Natasha asked as they entered the classroom.

“That was the headmaster’s son? I saw him in a corridor and he helped me get here. We didn’t get to introduce ourselves.”

“Interesting.” Natasha turned her attention from him to Clint. He was already seated at a table.

“Good morning, Ms. Romanoff.” He stood and pulled out a seat for her. She nodded at him while sitting down. Some of the other kids snickered at their display. “Loki.” Clint waved at him with a smile which Loki returned.

Loki took the table beside theirs.

He began eating while the last of the students came in. Their professor was nowhere in sight.

A mousy little girl took a seat next to Loki. She was wearing Ravenclaw’s colors.

“I’m Jane Foster,” she said confidently while holding out her hand.

“Loki Borson, well met.” They shook hands and she seemed inordinately pleased by their interaction.

Professor Strange was a tall man. The sides of his dark hair were grey. He wore a red cloak that seemed to have a mind of its own, as well as clothes that looked older than Loki.

He started class without any introduction, going right into the Troll Rebellion of 1911.

As Loki wrote up the key facts he saw that Jane was writing nearly word for word.

Perhaps she’d be a good study partner. She was a Ravenclaw, after all.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fyi, when I was writing this story I didn't bother to format it into chapters, so pardon any choppiness. 
> 
> Mucho thanks to Temul for making my story shiny ;)

Loki kept thumbing the ring Fury had given him, wondering why he had to wear it.

He couldn’t think of a good reason for it and was afraid to ask.

Everyone shuffled into the feasting hall for lunch.

“Loki!” a familiar voice shouted, making Loki tense up. Before he could hope to evade him, Loki was pulled into a hug. Everyone was staring at them. “How has your first day been?” Thor asked while ruffling Loki’s hair. Loki batted his hand away while sneering.

“It’s been fine, Thor. I’d like to eat now, goodbye.” Thor grabbed onto the sleeve of Loki’s cloak, causing Loki to stumble. A few kids around him laughed, making Loki blush.

“I received special permission from Professor Wilson to help out in your flying class.”

“Thor, no.” He did not need his brother to loom over him. He had enough of that back home.

“Aww, does Loki not want to embarrass himself in front of his big brother?” Thor teased loudly, causing Loki’s blush to flare even brighter.

There was a loud hissing noise, making Loki start.

He looked over at Slytherin’s table. All the upperclassmen were hissing at Thor.

“Shove off, Borson! He’s one of ours,” one of the older girls said.

“You’re just mad because you Slytherins can’t beat us at Quidditch!” Sif shouted.

In the span of a second chaos erupted. Food went flying.

A sandwich exploded against Loki’s face. He tried to take cover, but he was standing between the two tables.

“Enough!” Headmaster Stark shouted, causing people to pause mid-throw. “50 points from both Slytherin and Gryffindor!” Stark sat down while scowling.

Everyone took their seats as house elves scurried out from nowhere to clean up the mess.

*

First years from all houses were gathered on the training grounds. There was twenty of them in total and Loki didn’t know a single one of them.

And then Loki spotted Thor. Loki looked everywhere but at him.

The professor was younger than Loki expected and looked younger still when he smiled.

“Hello, kiddos! I’m Sam Wilson, Mister Wilson to you all. Flying is a basic that every witch and wizard should know, so unless you have a levitation cloak like Professor Strange you’re stuck with broomsticks. If you don’t get a passing grade, then you’ll have to keep taking this class until you do. Don’t be that one upperclassmen in a first-year class.”

“Like that Gryffindor?” a Hufflepuff said while chuckling.

Mister Wilson snorted, showing off the gap in his teeth.

He squeezed Thor’s shoulder, dispelling Thor’s pout.

“Thor, why don’t you tell them about your first time riding a broom?”

“Yes, Mister Wilson.” Thor puffed up his chest and Loki groaned. He had heard this story a hundred times and it never got any less embarrassing. “I was seven when my father decided I was old enough to ride a broomstick on my own. Loki, my younger brother,” Thor pointed at him, “yes that Slytherin with the red face is my brother! He thought he was old enough to ride on his own, too, but he was so  _ tiny _ . When our father went inside Loki took his broom. It whacked him right on the head, knocking him out. I had to fly him back to our home.”

Other first-years laughed at Loki, making him want to hide.

“I can’t remember how many times I’ve been knocked out while on my broomstick,” Mister Wilson said, drawing the attention away from Loki.

Loki suddenly recognized Mister Wilson. He had played on the Falmouth Falcons, one of the most violent quidditch teams. Loki vaguely remembered watching one of their games. A chaser had been hit by two bludgers in quick succession, falling to the ground. It had given Loki nightmares for weeks.

“If you mess around in my class, I will kick you out for the year. Now, if you’re right-handed, go to the left side of your broom. Left-handed, right side,” Mister Wilson ordered, shedding off his playful nature.

Loki paused, trying to remember which direction was which. He wasn’t the only one.

Loki was left-handed and took a broom that was on the very end. He had plenty of flying practice at home, but he was still nervous. His first day had been going so badly, one more embarrassing moment would just be the cherry on top.

“Hold your dominant hand over the broom. On my whistle say ‘up’. When it touches your hand grip it firmly. If it keeps rising let it go. I don’t want one of you to be swept up.” Loki took in a deep breath as Mister Wilson paused.

The whistle blew shrilly, somehow startling Loki despite knowing it was coming. He clenched his hand into a fist before relaxing it.

“Up!” he said with the other students.

The broom hopped off the ground and into Loki’s hand.

He grinned widely, feeling the broom shift slightly in his hand. Magic brought broomsticks to life. That magic was urging the brooms to find a wizard or witch to take with them to the air. A few of the other students weren’t having as much luck.

Thor was pouting, probably annoyed that he didn’t have another thing he could tease Loki about.

The rest of the lesson was easy for him, finally giving him a respite from a crazy first day.

At the end of class Thor had to put away all the broomsticks, making Loki laugh.

*

Defense Against the Dark Arts was taught by Professor Carter. Her straight-forwardness startled Loki. Despite Sif also being in the class, he could already tell it was going to be one of his favorite classes.

*

Dinner started with far less fanfare than lunch did.

He sat with Natasha who apparently hadn’t made any new friends either.

Loki was surprised when one of the older girls sat beside him. She was the girl that had shouted at Thor during lunch.

“Karnilla Nornheim,” she introduced herself while holding out her hand.

“Loki Borson.” He shook her hand and noticed her prefect badge.

“If your brother gives you any more trouble tell me. Baldr is my boyfriend and a Gryffindor prefect. He’ll dock a few points from Gryffindor when I tell him.” Her smile was sly and somehow comforting.

“Thor  _ is _ a jerk.” Loki grinned mischievously. Karnilla looked pleased with his response.

“Caretaker Coulson approved of your exotic pet. You’re lucky. I wasn’t allowed to bring my ice wisp when I was a first year.” Karnilla crinkled her nose before standing back up and walking away.

“What kind of pet do you have?” Natasha asked. She looked completely composed while Loki was sure he looked like a mess.

“A miniature jackalope,” Loki said proudly. “Her name is Bertie.” Frigga had made him decide between a pet and a huge jar of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans so he named his ‘lope after the candy he gave up.

“Is it an African or an American jackalope?” Loki smiled, not having expected that she knew that there were two types.

“African. I thought the little wings were cool.” He actually thought they were cute, but had already been picked on enough for being ‘girly’.

“All my pets are deadly so I couldn’t bring them.”

Loki took a bite of his dinner, not sure if she was bragging or not. Slytherins were too tricky. Loki wanted to be in Gryffindor.

“What do you like to do when you’re at home?” Loki asked, trying to strike up a conversation. Barney, Clint’s older brother, gave Loki a suspicious look.

“Practice dueling and reading.” Her answer sounded stiff, almost rehearsed.

“I like reading, too.” Thought it was one of the many things his brother picked on him for.

The pair fell into silence.

Loki could feel the awkwardness growing between them. He wished he had Thor’s easy charisma. The only friends Loki had were his mother and Bertie. He wasn’t even sure if his ‘lope counted since it was a pet.

Frigga had suggested that he should join a club, but Loki didn’t think that would work. He’d played with other children before, but…

He hoped things would be different now. He didn’t have his brother looming over him.

Maybe it was a good thing that he hadn’t been placed in Gryffindor with his brother.

*

Bertie was waiting for Loki on his bed in her cage.

She made a purring noise when she saw him, making Loki’s heart warm up.

He released Bertie from her cage and she hopped onto his lap.

His ‘lope was small enough to fit on his hands when they were cupped together. He chose her because she was a runt. Frigga said a runt might not survive long, but she had been so cute with her white fur that was spotted golden brown.

She nibbled at his green and silver tie with her pointed teeth.

“Stop,” Loki said while smiling. He pulled out one of her treats and hand fed her.

“Is that a jackalope?” a boy with silver hair asked. He was sitting in the bed next to Loki’s.

“Yes, her name is Bertie. She is very friendly, but will bite you if you have sticky hands.” His thoughts briefly went to Stark and the honey he’d left on Loki’s schedule.

“I have three jackalopes at home, but they’re way bigger and don’t have wings. One is my sister’s. We like to race them. Oh, yeah! My name is Pietro Lehnsherr. My twin sister is Wanda. She’s in Ravenclaw.” The Lehnsherrs were one of the noblest pure blooded families, if Loki remembered correctly.

“I’m Loki Borson. What are the names of your ‘lopes?”

“Quickster and Silver.” Pietro went over to his trunk and pulled out a photo. There were three ‘lopes in it. Two of them were wrestling while the other was chewing on its paw. None of them had wings. “The lazy one is my sister’s. His name is Scarlette.”

“I always wanted to get another ‘lope, but my parents wouldn’t let me.” Loki lifted Bertie between them. “You want to hold her?”

“Yeah!” Pietro held his hands open. Loki set Bertie down carefully. His little ‘lope sniffed Pietro, her little whiskers tickling him.

Pietro tried not to giggle and instead snorted.

“She’s so small! Can she fly?”

“No, her wings would have to grow bigger, but my mom says that miniature ‘lopes sometimes have a growth spurt later on.”

Bertie ruffled her wings before scratching under one of them with her foot.

“I wanted to bring Quickster and Silver, but dad said they were too big and Hogwarts wouldn’t allow it. I wouldn’t even know which one to bring…” Pietro brought Bertie close to his face, staring at her brown eyes. “I wonder how my ‘lopes would react to Bertie. Silver is protective of Scarlette. They were from the same litter.”

“Bertie is scared of animals that are bigger than her. My stupid brother let his dog chase her around.” Loki scowled.

“He sounds like a turd. Does he go here?”

“Yeah, he’s in Gryffindor.”

“Gryffindors are so annoying. I’m glad me and my sister didn’t get sorted into it. I was hoping we’d be in the same house, though.”

“You miss her already?” Loki joked. Pietro’s defenses went up in an instant.

“No, we’re not attached at the hip or something.” He hastily gave Bertie back before walking out to the bathrooms.

Loki sighed and gave Bertie a kiss on the nose, being careful to avoid her antlers.

He put her cage on his nightstand and opened it so that the door would create a bridge between the cage and his bed.

Loki was exhausted after his first day.

He changed into his PJs and tucked himself in.

Bertie curled up beside his head.

Her purring helped him drift off to sleep.

*

Loki woke up in the middle of the night. There were just too many questions in his head.

Bertie chirped at him in question. He gave her a kiss and put her back in her cage.

As quietly as he could, Loki left the boy’s quarters. He’d caught a glance of lake the morning before when they had been in the common room. He wondered what it would look like at night.

He stumbled slightly on the stairs. He knew there was a spell for lighting a wand up, but he didn’t know it yet.

Loki paused when he realized he wasn’t the only one in the common room.

Stark was lying in a hammock next to a window that separated them from the lake.

Stark woke up in an instant, pulling out his wand.

Loki held his hands up in surrender. He hadn’t brought down his wand, not that he knew any spells that would actually help him.

Stark relaxed, lowering his wand.

“Sorry. Thought you were Caretaker Coulson,” Stark said sheepishly. “I’m Tony Stark, in case you haven’t figured that out yet.” He wiped the sleep out of his eyes.

“I’m Loki. I didn’t know you were sorted into Slytherin.”

Tony snorted.

“I wasn’t. I’ve lived in this castle my whole life. I’ll sleep wherever I want.”  Tony made a vague hand motion while getting out of the hammock.

“You still haven’t been sorted yet?” Was he trying to avoid being placed in a specific house?

“Nope and I never will be.” Tony pulled his hammock down and rolled it up. He shoved it in one of the cabinets. “I’m going to the gardens. Wanna come?”

Loki stared blankly at him for a moment. He didn’t want to get in anymore trouble, but he didn’t want to look like a goody two shoes.

“Uhm, maybe next time. I was just coming down here to get a glass of water.”

“Yeah, okay.” Loki could tell that Tony saw right through his lie. He didn’t seem put out by the lie though, almost as if he was expecting it. Guilt settled in Loki’s stomach as he watched Tony go.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mucho thanks to Temul for being the best Beta ever~

Loki sneezed as he entered the greenhouse for his first Herbology lesson.

The school grounds were still covered by mist and the air in the greenhouse was almost unbearably humid.

His walk to the greenhouse had been chilly and if his luck continued down the same route he’d catch a cold.

“Hey, I think we’re in the same flying class,” a boy with messy black hair said. Loki took note of his Gryffindor tie and easy going smile. “I’m Bucky, but the professors insist on using my real name.” Bucky made a face that made Loki chuckle.

“I’m Loki. Mister Wilson seems like a good teacher so far.”

“Yeah, he’s funny. It’s awesome that he doesn’t assign homework. Have you had Transfiguration yet? Professor Zola is creepy.”

“I have that before lunch.”

“Try to sit towards the back. He’s short so he won’t be able to see you.” Bucky snickered and Loki smiled.

A woman with short brown hair and orange robes came from the other side of the greenhouse. She put her hands on her hips and was smiling brightly. She had a squirrel on each shoulder.

“Hello and welcome to Herbology. I’m Doreene Green. This is my first year teaching Herbology, but don’t underestimate me! I also teach Care of Magical Creatures and I’m the Head of Hufflepuff!” A few Hufflepuffs cheered. “These two squirrels are Tippy Toe and Monkey Joe. They are my assistants and capable of taking house points away.” She paused, her nose twitching. “I’m just kidding! Where’s your sense of humor?”

Loki laughed weakly. Bucky seemed more amused than Loki was.

“You don’t need to bring your textbooks to class, but I expect you to write down the basic uses for the plants we’re going to study that week ahead of time. First-year Herbology is easy-peasy, so long as you take notes and come to class.”

Professor Green went on explaining what they’d be doing for the first three weeks.

She seemed like a good teacher, if not a little energetic for a morning class.

*

Loki and Bucky chatted a bit more on their way back into the castle before splitting to go to their different classes.

After what Bucky told him, Loki was dreading Transfiguration class.

He took Bucky’s advice and sat near the back.

Jane Foster, from his History of Magic class, sat next to him, smiling shyly.

“How did your first day go?” Loki asked her.

“Professor Amora took ten points away from Ravenclaw because I was ‘sassing’ her. I fell off my broomstick in flying class.” She cringed and Loki laughed.

“I’m glad I’m not the only one who had a bad first day. I got lost and missed breakfast yesterday.” He didn’t want to tell her about the ring Fury had forced him to wear and there was no way she’d missed the food fight he’d been in the middle of.

“This place is so complicated. My mom told me about how the stairs moved, but I thought she meant escalators! I nearly died when one started moving when I was on it.” Her blue eyes were wide. Loki smirked.

“I can beat that. I was at the top of one of the stairways and jumped down onto another one that was moving,” Loki said proudly. At least he got a good story out of yesterday’s fiasco.

“No way! How did you not fall?”

“Good morning, class,” Professor Zola said, putting an end to their conversation. “You two,” Zola pointed at the students in the front and center table, “stand up. That spot is assigned to Steven Rogers and Loki Borson.” Loki froze in confusion before Jane elbowed him.

He saw a boy with blond hair in Gryffindor colors get up. They exchanged a glance while moving to the front of the class.

Loki gnawed on his lip while setting his things down.

“Very good.” Zola lips curled up into a grin. “Sit down!” he shouted at the students he had moved. They scrambled to the vacated seats. “Transfiguration will be the hardest course you take this year. It will unlock a plethora of things, both inside of you and in our little world.” As he spoke he looked directly at Loki and Steve. “Have you read the first chapter, Mister Rogers, Mister Borson?”

“Uhm,” Steve stuttered out.

“N—Not yet, Professor Zola. I didn’t know we were supposed to.” Why was he putting them on the spot? He hadn’t even looked at the other students since Loki and Steve sat down.

Zola sneered while shaking his head.

“Ten points from both Gryffindor and Slytherin.”

Loki felt his heart sink. The other Slytherins would pick on him if they found out he had lost points so carelessly.

“I expect better from you two.”

*

Loki felt exhausted by the time class let out.

“What was that about?” Jane asked him and Steve as they began the trek to the dining hall.

“I don’t know.” Loki felt bad for Steve; he had started crying in the middle of the lesson. Zola just kept asking them question after question, ignoring the other students. Steve had used his tie to wipe his nose and had another ten points deducted.

“Why was he so mean?” Steve hiccupped.

“Maybe he does a hot seat sort of thing?” Jane suggested.

“Hot seat?” Loki asked, hope bubbling up.

“I saw it on a muggle TV show once. Whoever is in the hot seat has to answer all the questions. That has to be it.” Jane nodded firmly. She sounded so confident that Loki was almost reassured.

“I think I’m just going to go back to my dorm,” Steve said while wiping his red eyes. “My stomach is in too many knots to eat.”

“Are you sure?” Jane asked. Steve looked like he needed a good meal.

“Yeah, I’ll see you guys later.” He gave a brief wave before he went off in a different direction.

“I’m going to have to study like crazy,” Jane mumbled. Loki sighed.

*

Loki was halfway through lunch when Bucky traversed the area between their tables.

“You said you had Transfiguration after Herbology, right?” Bucky asked, looking uncomfortable.

“Yeah.” Loki could feel the other Slytherins eyeing him and Bucky suspiciously.

“Did you see my pal Steve? He’s a scrawny blond kid.” Bucky was shifting from foot to foot.

“Yeah, Zola was being mean to him. He said he wasn’t hungry and went back to Gryffindor Tower.”

Bucky’s mouth set in a hard line.

“Thanks.” Bucky rushed out of the hall.

“Making friends with Gryffindors, I see,” Natasha said in a cold voice.

Loki bit his lip, not knowing how to respond. Barney was scowling at him.

Loki stuffed his face with food in lieu of an explanation.

*

On his way to Charms class he ran into Tony.

“Where ya heading?” Tony asked. He was vibrating with energy.

“Charms.”

Tony snorted.

“Don’t get too comfortable. I have a feeling it’s going to be a short class.” Tony grinned wickedly. He caught a glance of something and bolted in the opposite direction.

Loki laughed to himself. Tony was strange and bound to get Loki in trouble.

Maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing?

*

“You’re in this Charms class too?” Pietro asked, seemingly having forgotten his outburst last night.

“Pietro!” a tiny brunette girl shouted while launching herself at Pietro.

He caught her and twirled her around. Pietro looked embarrassed when he noticed all the other students staring at them.

“This is Wanda, my sister.” Pietro patted her on her head. “Wanda, this is Loki. He has the bed next to mine and has a miniature ‘lope with wings.”

“I love jackalopes. Pietro babies his, though.” She gave him a look and he blushed.

“I baby my Bertie. She’s normally good, but has a mean bite. She only bites my brother, though.” Loki snickered.

“Quickster has an awesome hunger. Newts are his favorite”

“Scarlette is a better hunter. She lays in wait while Pietro’s just run around in circles.” Wanda elbowed Pietro who was scoffing. “We should sit down. I think class is about to start.”

Wanda and Pietro took one table that had no open seats around it. Loki held back a sigh and sat by a  tired looking Ravenclaw. He had fluffy hair and was playing with his quill. Loki gave him a brief smile. The other boy didn’t acknowledge him, not even noticing that Loki sat by him.

Typical Ravenclaw.

A boy with the ugliest face Loki had ever seen sat on Loki’s other side. His skin was nearly silver with red splotches. He had red lines on his face along with red eyes. His ears were pointed, like a house elf’s.

Loki had no idea how he hadn’t noticed him before, considering he was a Slytherin.

Loki quickly looked away.

A beautiful witch in green robes walked into the room. She had a grace he’d never seen before. Thor had mentioned that one of the professors was half-Veela.

She sat at her desk primly—only for a puff of brown to appear around her. It congealed into a slime, covering her from head to toe.

Loki tried to stifle his laughter, but couldn’t. He wasn’t the only one. Everyone was laughing.

Professor Amora tried wiping off the worst of it from her face, only for her hands to become stuck.

“Get out!” she screeched, her voice harpy-like. It set off Loki’s survival instinct. He stuffed his things back in his bag while scurrying away.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lots of love to Temul, who edits up the mess that is this story~

Loki didn’t know what to do with his surprise free-time at first.

He wanted to crawl back in bed with Bertie, but knew he had some catching up to do in Transfiguration class.

He wouldn’t mind studying with Steve, but he didn’t have a way to get in contact with him and didn’t want Natasha making fun of him for hanging out with a Gryffindor.

Loki grabbed his A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration book and went to the library.

The librarian gave him a look, but didn’t comment.

Loki found a comfy spot and opened his book. He would read through the first two chapters, underline the important information, and then copy that information into his notes. That’s what Frigga did when she went to Hogwarts.

That plan fell apart fast.

He read and underlined, but knew it would be too annoying to copy so much information.

Halfway through the first chapter, a shadow loomed over him.

“You should be in class,” a man in clean cut robes said. His expression was bland, yet his eyes were sharp.

If Loki’s luck held he’d probably get points deducted for ‘skipping’ class.

“There was an accident in Charms class, Sir. Professor Amora dismissed us early.” Loki’s words sounded like a lie even to his own ears.

“Your name?”

“Loki Borson.”

“I’m Caretaker Coulson. If your story doesn’t hold up you’ll get detention with me for three nights. You do not want to have detention with me.” Coulson turned away without another word.

Loki sighed before trying to reimmerse himself in his Transfiguration studies.

*

Loki had a headache by the time he made it to Potions class.

He was surprised to see Tony in the class. He still wasn’t wearing any House colors. Professor Fury was completely ignoring him.

Loki took a seat beside him, and was rewarded with an amiable smile.

“Fury and Carter are the only ones who won’t snitch on me,” Tony whispered to Loki.

They both jumped in their seats when Professor Fury dropped a cauldron on their table.

“The only reason I allow you here is to keep you out of trouble,” Fury said while glaring at Tony. “If you distract my students, I’ll kick you out before you can say Polyjuice Potion. Understand?”

“Yes, Uncle Nicky.” Tony’s voice was petulant. Fury didn’t react, just went back to the front of the classroom.

Loki noticed Natasha and Clint sit down at the table in front of theirs.

Tony scooped up a piece of paper Loki didn’t notice before as he went over to the cabinets that lined the classroom. He pulled out a silver key from his robes and opened one, gathering ingredients.

Only their desk had a cauldron and it was more on Tony’s side than his.

“The first day is always potion safety and a bit on how to handle certain ingredients and tools,” Tony said when he came back.

“You’ve taken this class before?” Loki asked, confused.

“It’s more like the professors took care of me, sometimes during class.” Tony smiled, but there was a sad edge to it. “Aunt Peggy—Professor Carter, has a picture of us when I was a baby. She was lecturing while carrying me in her arms.” Tony paused, his eyes distant. “When I could walk and read I’d help the older kids with their potions by grabbing them ingredients. I learned by helping. Most of the professors know what I’m capable of, so they let me work on more advanced stuff, so long as they’re supervising.”

“That’s amazing.”

“I know.” Tony grinned cockily. “If you need help with anything, let me know.”

Loki bit his lip in thought.

“Why… me?”

Tony looked at him a moment before turning back to the cauldron.

“Because you trusted me.”

*

Loki was not looking forward to Astronomy class. For one thing, he wasn’t used to being awake at this hour. For another, Astronomy sounded terribly boring.

Worst of all, Thor, that dullard, had failed the class and somehow ended up in Loki’s.

He had no doubt that Thor would use it as an opportunity to pick on Loki.

Loki had to take a spiraling staircase to reach the classroom in the astronomy tower.

He was halfway up when—

“Panting already, brother?” Thor asked while coming up behind him. Loki tried to slow down his panting even though his red face would give him away. “Perhaps you will finally gain some muscles.”

“Is that why you failed Astronomy, so you could take it again and gain muscles?” Loki asked, grinning. A student in front of them snorted.

Thor’s face twisted.

“Remember your place, little brother.” Thor shoved Loki to the side and hurried up the stairs.

“Are you alright?” a different student asked while stepping by Loki. His skin was a strange color, a cross between pink and purple. He had a small, yellow oval on his forehead and no hair. He was a Ravenclaw.

“Yes, I’m used to his pigheadedness. I’m Loki.”

“I am Vision. My brother is the same way, even though we’re fraternal twins. He likes to act like he’s better than everyone.”

“Do you know Pietro and Wanda Lehnsherr? They’re fraternal twins too.”

“Yes, Wanda and I have been getting along nicely. I’ve only had a few occasions to talk to Pietro. Ultron, my brother, tends to scare people away so I haven’t had a chance to talk to as many people as I wanted to.”

“My brother takes the spotlight all the time.” It had been terrible when he’d sent a letter home saying he was on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. “I’m so glad we’re not twins.”

They had to end their conversation because Loki was huffing and puffing up the stairs. Vision wasn’t even tired when they reached the top. Loki wondered if that had anything to do with his odd appearance.

“Vision, Loki!” Wanda said while hopping out of her seat beside Pietro.

“Good evening,” Vision said primly, but somehow didn’t sound snobby.

Loki said hello to them. He was going to try to strike up a conversation, but Thor roped and arm over Loki’s shoulders.

“You shall sit with me,” Thor said firmly while tugging Loki to a table.

“No way! You just want to sit together so you can cheat off my work!” Loki yanked himself free, sending his hair into disarray.

Thor made another grab at him, but Loki hopped backwards—and straight into Natasha.

“Sorr—” Loki began, but was cut off.

“Back off you bumbling Gryffindor. Loki is a Slytherin. You mess with him and I won’t be very happy.”

“And who are you, little girl?” Thor said mockingly while moving closer to her. He was tall for his age and used his height to loom over her.

Natasha smiled, there was something deadly in her eyes.

“Do you not know who I am, Borson? I am Natasha Romanoff. I’m from a family of dark wizards. I have been raised surrounded by the dark arts. You would not be the first boy I put in a grave.”

Thor raised up his wand, but a tattooed hand caught his wrist.

“Ten points from Gryffindor. This is not the dueling yard.” The tattoos shifted on Professor Singularity as she let go of Thor. She smiled brightly, her white eyes sparkling oddly. “Everyone take your seats. Thor Borson, you will sit front and center.”

“Yes, Professor Singularity,” Thor grumbled.

“Come on, Loki.” Natasha tilted her head towards a table.

Loki followed her, grateful for her help even though it escalated the situation.

They sat in front of Pietro and Wanda.

Loki could hardly pay attention as Professor Singularity spoke. Her star tattoos were constantly in motion, shifting into new constellations, a shooting star on her hand, a blooming galaxy on her collarbone…

Natasha was taking notes, seemingly unaffected by the colorful display.

He concentrated on her scroll and was able to take half decent notes.

*

On the third day Loki was happy to see a familiar face in his Defense Against the Dark Arts class, besides Sif.

Loki smiled as Steve sat beside him in DADA.

“Steve, you shouldn’t sit with him,” Sif said when she spotted them. “He’s a trickster and stands for everything Godric Gryffindor is against.”

Steve bolted up, knocking over his chair. He was a whole head shorter than her.

“I don’t like bullies, and you’re being a bully.” Steve’s chest was puffed up and his hand was poised to grab his wand.

Sif scoffed loudly.

“I’m trying to help you. You’ll learn soon enough.”

Sif turned away from them and sat on the other side of the class.

Steve eyed her a minute longer before he seemed to deflate. He gave Loki an embarrassed look.

“Thank you.” Loki bit his lip. “I’m not used to people standing up for me.” Other than Frigga.

“Yeah, well she was being mean.” Steve plopped down beside Loki.

Loki’s thoughts immediately went to Professor Zola, but he pushed those away.

Loki sat by Steve. He looked enamored by Professor Carter, despite her just sitting at her desk.

Loki elbowed him in the side, giving him a look. Steve blushed and Loki snickered.

As the class began Loki quickly lost interest. He wrote scant notes, finding what was being taught was painfully obvious. It didn’t help that it was the last class of the day.

His eyes drifted around, trying to find even a thread of entertainment. He saw a glint of jewelry.

Loki grabbed Steve’s hand, staring at the ring that matched his own.

Steve yanked his hand away, looking confused and startled. Loki pointed at his own ring. Understanding flickered through his eyes. He glanced at Professor Carter then the ring before looking back to him. Loki nodded. They would talk after class.

*

“Loki and Steve are gay!” Sif shouted the second they stopped out of class. “They were holding hands!” She was pointing at them, drawing the eye of even more people.

Loki ducked his head, hating Sif more than ever.

“Why are you being such a jerk!? I don’t even know if I’m,” Steve struggled with the word, “gay! What I am and what Loki is, is none of your business!”

Steve grabbed Loki by the sleeve of his robes as he began walking away. Sif was scowling at them.

*

Loki’s face was still beet red when they stopped at an alcove.

“Did Professor Carter give you that ring, too?” Steve asked, shucking his bag off.

Loki plopped down into a plush seat, sighing.

“No, Professor Fury gave it to me on the first day of class. He said to never take it off.” Loki thumbed at the ring.

“Fury is the head of Slytherin, right?” Loki nodded. “Professor Carter is the head of Gryffindor. Maybe all the heads of houses gave a ring out to one of their students.” Steve looked hopeful, almost excited.

“If we can find the other two, we might get some answers.” Loki smirked. “I guess we’ll have to do some investigating.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm seriously just chopping up the story in order to make chapters since I didn't plan ahead. Hopefully it doesn't come off as awkward :P
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Winging it! lol

* * *

 

They cornered Jane in the library after dinner. She was sitting with a Hufflepuff who had her head laying on a book.

“Hey, Jane.” Loki and Steve sat at her table.

Jane hummed in response and the Hufflepuff twitched.

Loki chuckled, wondering if that’s how he looked when he was caught up in a book.

“Did Professor Zola tell one of the first years to stay after on the morning of the first day?”

Jane hummed again and turned the page.

Loki let out an amused huff and pulled out his quill. Steve gave Loki a questioning look.

“She’s not going to pay attention to us until she’s finished reading,” Loki explained.

He used the feathered part of his quill to tickle the Hufflepuff’s nose. She twitched and groaned.

Loki snickered. Steve gave him a disapproving look.

“Relax. I’m not hurting her.” He brushed the feather over her ear and she slapped herself. “Not hurting her, much.”

Steve took the quill from Loki.

“That’s not very nice.” Steve set the quill between them.

“Didn’t you hear Sif earlier? I stand for everything Godric Gryffindor was against,” Loki said wryly.

Steve’s face became almost comically sad.

“Being a Gryffindor doesn’t mean you’re a good person. That Sif girl proved that.”

Loki tried to hide his grimace.

They fell into an awkward silence that was stilted with the sound of pages being turned.

Loki pulled out his Transfiguration book and notes. Steve followed suit. Neither of them were looking forward to their class tomorrow.

“Loki, Steve, when did you two get here?” Jane asked while looking up from her book, a good twenty minutes later. Jane’s eyes flitted to her companion. “Darcy, wake up.” Jane shoved the brunette who shot up.

“The what now?” Darcy wiped at her cheek, looking for any drool that might have escaped. “Who are you people?”

“We are just a dream,” Loki whispered while waving his fingers the way Professor Singularity did.

“I’m Steve Rogers,” Steve said, ruining all the fun, “and this is Loki Odinson.”

“Hmm, a likely story.” She looked at them with narrowed eyes.

“That is their names, Darce. You were supposed to be studying with me.” She poked her friend in the face. Darcy tried to bite Jane’s finger. They both giggled.

Girls were so weird.

“Now that we both have your attention, did either of your house heads pull aside one of the first years on the first day?” Loki eyed the pair, trying to read them.

“I slept through Professor Green’s morning thingy,” Darcy said. She bit her tongue, trying not to grin.

“Professor Zola didn’t talk to us. I’ve only seen him in class and in the feasting hall.” Jane shrugged. “Why do you ask?”

Loki leaned closer to them.

“Can you keep a secret?” he whispered to them.

“Totally,” Darcy said and Jane nodded.

“Once I tell you this there’s no going back.” Loki could feel Steve staring at him.

“Oh, this is going to be juicy. Yes, yes, no going back. We got it. Now spill!”

The librarian hissed out a shush, startling all four of them.

Loki put on his best innocent expression and pantomimed an apology to the librarian.

He eyed their little group before going back to shelving books.

“On the first day of class our heads of houses gave us these and told us not to ever take it off.” Loki showed them his ring and Steve did the same.

“Let me see.” Jane took Loki’s hand, examining his ring. Before Loki could react, Jane pulled out her wand and performed a spell on his ring.

“What the heck, Jane?” Loki said while cradling his hand against his chest.

“There’s at least three charms on that ring, but they’re too advanced for me to understand,” Jane said. “Let me see yours, Steve.”

Steve gnawed on his lip.

“Maybe next time. I gotta tell Bucky what we learned.” Steve scurried away, nearly forgetting his bag. Loki watched him go before exchanging a confused look with Jane and Darcy.

“What’s the plan, L-Man,” Darcy asked while pointing finger guns at him. “Are we going to ask Professor Amora if she can read the charms on your bling?”

“No, Professor Fury refused to tell me more about the ring.” Loki sighed in frustration. “And Professor Zola was an ass to me and Steve. I think it’s one of those…” Loki searched for the word, “conpeirs? Compeiries?”

“Conspiracies,” Jane filled in.   

“Yeah, one of those. We can’t let them know that we’re on to them.” If they did, the professors might try and stop them. “I need you two to find anyone else in your houses that might have rings. They might know something.”

“Oki-doki, Loki.” Darcy gave him a mock salute.

Girls were so weird.

*

Loki had studied the night before in preparation for Transfiguration class.

Steve was waiting outside of the classroom for him. He looked like he hadn’t slept a wink. Neither of them wanted to go inside.

They could only stall so much, though.

“Good luck, you guys,” Jane whispered as they passed where she was seated.

Steve startled Loki by going straight to Professor Zola.

“Are you only going to ask me and Loki questions again?” Steve asked and the room fell silent. Loki had to give Steve points for being so bold.

“Is that anyway to address a professor and a superior?” Zola said, not looking away from the paper he was writing on.

“What makes you think you’re superior?” Everyone was watching them with rapt attention. By the end of the day everyone was going to hear about this.

“Besides my intellect far surpassing yours? You shall find out eventually and understand that I am correct.” Zola finally looked at Steve over the brim of his spectacles.

“It sounds like you don’t have a reason and just like to pick on students to make yourself feel good.”

Drawn out ohs came from the other students.

“50 points from Gryffindor for insolence. Take your seat, Mr. Rogers. You’re delaying the education of the other students.”

Steve’s face was scarlet as he stomped to his seat.

Loki’s heart was racing just from watching their interaction. He couldn’t imagine how Steve was feeling.

*

Loki wanted to dump dragon dung on Professor Zola’s head. His questions had been even more demanding than last time.

“You look like someone died,” Pietro said in lieu of a greeting.

“Uck!” Loki collapsed in his seat, dearly wanting to skip class. He wasn’t going to risk Caretaker Coulson catching him, though. “I’m too tired to talk.”

“Oh! I’ll talk! I’ll talk!” a brunette from Gryffindor said while jumping out of her seat. “I’m Janet van Dyne and I saw the whole thing!” She surprisingly looked at Loki for permission. He waved weakly for her to continue. “Class is going to start soon. Long story short, Prof Zola keeps picking on Loki and umm Stan Rogers?”

“Steve Rogers,” Natasha filled in. Loki didn’t want to know how she knew that.

“Yeah, so Steve stood up for them at the start of class and called him out. It was crazy tense and Steve said Zola was picking on them to feel better about himself. Zola got this pinched look and took 50 points from Gryffindor, probably because Steve was right.” Janet puffed up her cheeks, looking irritated.

“Zola’s not mean to anyone in our class,” Pietro said. He was sitting by Wanda.

“Did you just come from Trans?” the boy seated next to Loki asked. He looked surprised at himself for speaking.

“Yeah, I’m Loki.”

“I’m Bruce. I have Zola right before you. He started off looking indifferent, but he kept checking the clock and he started getting this really creepy smile on his face.”

“Great, so he really does have it out for us.” Loki groaned and rested his head on the desk. A second later Professor Amora walked in, beginning class.

*

Charms and Potions classes went by with nothing significant happening.

Loki was too tired and fed up with the day to go to dinner. He asked Natasha to grab him something. She agreed and would pass it along to Pietro to bring to their dorm.

Loki got cleaned up and let Bertie out of her cage. One of the house elves must have cleaned the cage because it was spotless. He wondered how they did it without startling Bertie.

His little ‘lope trilled in confusion, sensing his stress.

“It’s okay.” He petted the soft fur between her antlers. “I just need rest.”

Loki fell asleep soon after and didn’t wake until morning.

*

Two Howlers arrived the following morning, thankfully neither were for Loki.

The Maximoff twins each received one. Their father congratulated them loudly.

Loki felt his heart sink when he saw that Odin’s raven dropped off a letter for Thor, but not him.

“No news is good news,” Natasha stated dully.

Barney whispered something to Natasha, but her expression didn’t change.

Loki still wasn’t sure if Natasha was his friend or not. She hadn’t been mean, but she hadn’t exactly been warm either.

*

Later that day Loki went to Flying Class and was met with a very irate Bucky. He was almost afraid to approach him, but didn’t want to lose of the first friends he made—assuming they were really friends.

“Zola is a bloody snob,” Bucky said.

“5 points from Gryffindor for swearing.” Mister Wilson startled them both. They hadn’t noticed him flying their way. He lowered his broom. He leaned in close to them.

“Between us, I completely agree.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The potions card game mentioned is based off the Japanese game uta-garuta.
> 
> Much loved to Temul who betas like a boss~

* * *

 

When Loki reached Defense Against the Dark Arts Steve and Sif were talking. He felt his stomach sink. It was so typical that he’d lose a friend to one Thor’s friends.

Steve looked uncomfortable. Loki perked up, even though he probably shouldn’t be glad Steve was not enjoying himself.

Sif was talking at him rather than talking with him.

Loki scowled when he realized Sif was going on about how many house points Steve had lost in Zola’s class, blabbering about how the rest of the house was having to work extra hard to make up the points. Loki knew she was a second away from ranting about how Thor won the house cup last year. Loki jumped in.

“Thor told me he was surprised when they won that last Quidditch game and that it was a fluke.”

Anger flared to life on Sif’s face.

Loki darted into the classroom before she could start shouting at him.

Loki was still snickering when Steve took his seat beside him.

“You really know how to ruffle her feathers.”

“And she knows how to ruffle mine.”

*

Loki, Steve, Jane, and Darcy met in the library after dinner.

“Report,” Loki said half seriously. Darcy hopped to attention, giving a perfect British salute.

“No rings have been spotted in Hufflepuff, sir.” Darcy giggled and sat back down. Jane rolled her eyes, not hiding her amusement.

“I didn’t see any on the first years, but I think we should look at the upperclassmen too. We have to expand our search,” Jane said while putting her fist down firmly on the table.

“Tomorrow, the upperclassmen are recruiting for their clubs. We’ll be able to see a lot of their hands,” Steve said.

Loki had noticed those posters, but was hesitant to join a club. Being around a lot of people tired him out.

Steve got up and went to another table to grab one of the posters.

“We should divide the meetings,” Steve continued. “Me and Loki will go to half, you guys go to the other half.”

“I want to go to the pet club!” Darcy said loudly, getting the attention of the librarian. He stared at her and she blushed in embarrassment.

“I want to go to that club too.” Steve hunched his shoulders, somehow looking smaller than usual.

“We can all go to that one,” Jane said, easily solving the problem.

They divided the clubs, did a bit of studying, then went to their separate dorms.

*

Natasha was staring at Loki at breakfast. He became increasingly uncomfortable.

“What?” Loki asked, his voice cracking. She stared at him another moment before speaking.

“Why aren’t you hanging out with Slytherins? You’re wasting your time with the others. They will only weaken you.”

“You’re making us look bad,” Barney added on, shoveling more food onto his plate.

“I hang out with Wanda and you don’t care about that,” Pietro said defensively. Loki was thankful when some of the attention slid away from him.

“She’s family. I’d hang out with my brother from Hufflepuff if he wasn’t such a turd.” Barney glared at the Hufflepuff.

Loki stared down at his plate. He didn’t want to be scorned by his own house.

“Aren’t you friends with Clint?” Loki asked Natasha.

“No, he works for my family.” Loki was somehow not surprised by how blunt she was being.

“Whatever, you guys,” Pietro said. “Just let him have friends.” Pietro sat up straighter and smirked. “Oh wait, Natasha, are you jealous that you don’t have as many friends as him? Did you think that being in a house would automatically get you friends?”

Natasha glared at him, ending the conversation.

*

Loki and Steve met up after breakfast.

Steve’s face was red.

“What’s wrong?”

“Bucky tricked me into eating a pepper.” Steve smiled mischievously. “Imma get him back though.”

“Pranks are my specialty.”

“Thanks, but no thanks. If I get you involved, everyone will eventually get involved.” Steve’s smile turned soft. “That happened back home. Some of our friends were muggles, though, and we almost got in trouble.”

“I don’t know any muggles,” Loki admitted.

Steve looked nervous all of a sudden and pulled them into a small, empty alcove. Loki gave him a questioning look.

“Promise we can still be friends after I tell you my secret?”

Loki blinked in surprise.

No one had ever said they were his friend before. It made him duck his head in embarrassment.

“Yeah, of course.” Loki’s face was heating up with a blush.

“Both my parents were muggles,” Steve whispered.

“Why did you think I wouldn’t—Oh, because I’m a Slytherin.” Loki didn’t hold Steve’s stereotyping against him. From the whispers Loki had heard, there was some truth behind it. “We’re still friends.” Loki smiled at him before his worry broke through. “Your parents _were_ muggles?”

Steve bobbed his head.

“My dad and mom and me were in a car crash. They died and I got a lot of scars.” Steve placed his hand on his torso in thought. “I don’t have any family, but Mrs. Barnes saw me accidentally do magic and sort of adopted me.” Steve hugged himself. “I have to go to the infirmary a lot because the muggles didn’t fix my insides right. I think that’s why I’m so small.”

“Or you’re just short,” a new voice said, startling them both. Steve began getting worked up. “I’m just kidding.” Tony waved at him dismissively while smiling.

Steve eyed him before letting out a breath and sighing.

“You weren’t here a minute ago,” Loki said while eyeing him. They would have noticed if he came into the alcove.

“Don’t you know? I’m magic!” Tony looked proud of himself before winking at them. “And I know all the secret passages.” Tony pointed to a high spot on the stone wall. It didn’t stand out in the least. “Don’t try to use that one, though. It has traps.”

“Good to know.”

“Oh! Tony, how much do you know about charms?” Loki asked, remembering how far ahead he was in Potions class.

“I got an outstanding on my OWL in Charms class.”

“What?! How?” Steve blurted out.

“I’m Tony fucking Stark, that’s how.” He let out a breath, his cockiness going with it. “My mom used to teach Charms class. I started learning it when I was four. I’m really good at transfigurations, but I never took the OWL or NEWT for it.”

“You have to help us study!” Steve said while grabbing Tony’s hand. Tony shook him off, but Steve was unperturbed. “Professor Zola has been picking on me and Loki in class and asking only us questions.”

“He also made Steve cry,” Loki said while grinning and Steve shoved him.

“I’ll sit in on your next class with Zola and write my dad a letter.”

“Write him a letter?”

“He keeps trying to get me sorted into a house. It’s not going to happen.” Tony was scowling to himself and left without another word.

*

Most of the clubs held no interest to Loki.

The only one that had pulled his attention away from looking for people wearing rings was a club dedicated to trading cards and card games. He didn’t care about the chocolate frog cards, but there was a game where half the cards were the first ingredients of a potion and the other cards had the final parts. The two players would be seated in front of the cards that had the final ingredients for the potions. Another person would read the first part and the goal was to grab the corresponding card before their opponent did.

It was amazing how some students figured out the potion after just hearing the first ingredient.

Loki probably should join a club, but he didn’t want to make an idiot out of himself. He didn’t even know most of those ingredients. He’d completely suck at the card game.

Steve had been enamored with the art club. Bucky had joined them for that bit, giving Loki someone to commiserate with.

Before lunch they met up with the other group. Darcy and Jane hadn’t seen anyone else wearing the same rings as Loki and Steve.

“Are you going to the outdoor sports club?” Pietro asked during lunch. He was wearing a thick cloak and his nose was pink. “I helped them set up.”

“Sorry, I’m not into sports.” It didn’t help that Thor beat him at every kind he tried.

“Lame,” Pietro said halfheartedly. “I think I’m going to try out for the Quidditch team. Mister Wilson said I’m really good on a broom.”

“Are first years even allowed to play?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

“I’m so talented they’ll have to accept me.”

Loki snorted at his overconfidence, finding it oddly endearing.

“What position?”

“A seeker, but I’d be fine being a chaser. I’ve always been fast and my dad will buy me a good broom if I make the team.” Pietro brushed his dark hair back. “I’m going to make it. No one can beat me when it comes to speed.”

Loki made a humming noise.

“I guess I’ll go to your first game.”

*

Loki was excited to go to the pet club. He had collected Bertie after lunch and his ‘lope was taking in the sights while squeaking happily.

Loki was a bit intimidated as he entered the classroom. It was full of noise and Steve wasn’t by his side like he had been when they’d looked into the other clubs.

Loki refrained from clutching Bertie’s cage to his chest.

“Come in,” an older strawberry blonde said while walking over. “I’m Pepper Potts, the head of Hogwart’s Pet Aficionado Organization, AKA the pet club!” A ferret shifted on her shoulders, startling Loki. Its creamy color matched her skin. “This is Elizabeth and what is the name of your jackalope?”

“Bertie,” Loki mumbled, then spotted Steve, Jane, and Bucky. He nodded at Pepper while passing by her. “Hey.” Loki’s voice broke. He ducked his head, trying not to let his blush show.

They greeted him.

Jane had a cat sitting on her lap and they were all by a wading pool.

“That’s Shield.” Steve pointed at a turtle that had a white star shape on its shell. “He’s a bit shy.” The turtle was in its shell.

“This is Caelum.” Jane held up her small tabby cat. “He’s kind of stupid.” Jane gave Caelum a kiss before setting him back down on the ledge. Caelum fell off and landed in the wading pool. He didn’t bother to right himself. “He’s not dangerous.”

“This is Bertie.” He held up her cage. There were so many animals out, some of which could hurt his ‘lope.

“There is an area for smaller pets right over there with a charm to keep the animals that could harm them out.” Loki hadn’t noticed Pepper following him.

“I want to see Bertie,” Bucky said while getting up.

They went to the area Pepper had pointed to. Darcy was there.

“Took you long enough to notice me.” Darcy scowled at them halfheartedly. She was sitting in the play pen with a few other students and pets. “Bork, come here.” An orange pygmy puff scuttled over to her.

Loki set Bertie’s cage on a table and carefully got her out. They joined Darcy.

“Bertie, meet Bork,” Loki said while sitting by Darcy. Bucky sat on her other side.

The two pets sniffed at each other before Bertie tackled Bork, knocking her out of Darcy’s hands.

The pair started playing.

“Bork normally doesn’t like other pets.” A rat ran towards them before hopping over them and running away. “Do you have a pet, Bucky?”

“I have Steve,” Bucky said and Darcy and Loki burst out laughing. The other group looked over at them in question, only making them laugh harder.

A red bird swept over, startling them all. It landed on the fence surrounding the pen.

Loki scooped up Bertie, holding her close to his chest.

“I thought you said no predators could come here,” Loki hissed out towards Pepper. “Wait? Is that a phoenix?”

Pepper ambled over, unconcerned.

“Yeah, he’s a phoenix. He won’t hurt anyone. I think he’s Headmaster Stark’s. He’s the club mascot.”

The phoenix cooed at her in response.

“Just don’t try to touch him. He’ll either disappear or his feathers will burn you.”

“Woah! We have a phoenix?” Jane asked while coming over. Her half-wet cat followed behind her. “That’s so cool. Does it produce flint? My mom has a piece of phoenix flint in her wedding ring! I never thought I’d see an actual phoenix!”

The phoenix blinked out of existence.

Jane let out a disappointed mewl.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Extra thanks to Temul, who betas this lovely story~

Bertie was sleeping on Loki’s pillow.

The day had been both disappointing and surprising.

None of his friends had spotted anyone wearing a ring like his or Steve’s.

What caught Loki off guard was how many clubs he was interested in.

He definitely wanted to join the pets club. Bertie and Bork were fast friends. He also liked it because… there wasn’t a lot of pressure to talk. Everyone was focused on their pets and the other animals.

The other two clubs were a bit more social.

The trade and play card club didn’t have too many people, but Loki knew he’d suck at the potion ingredients card game.

Loki hadn’t expected to like any of the indoor sports one of the clubs offered.

He wasn’t sure of all the rules, but it looked quite fun.

Color-Stitch had two to three teams. A cauldron was placed in the middle of the room and would spew out bubbles in the three primary colors. Each team was assigned a secondary color that they would try to get by merging the bubbles.

If one team’s color was green, while the other team’s was purple, they’d fight over the blue bubbles while trying to pop the bubbles that their opponents needed.

There were different positions in the game.

Loki was a natural at it. He liked the precision it needed.

He’d make a decision in the morning, when he wasn’t exhausted.

*

Loki woke up to Bertie’s whiskers tickling his ear.

He giggled before covering his mouth. It was still early and he didn’t want to wake anyone else.

Loki knew he wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep so he gave Bertie a kiss and put her in her cage.

The underwater windows were still mostly dark, but it was after six so he was allowed to leave his dorm.

After getting cleaned up, Loki gathered some of his books. He walked to the study hall and was surprised to see there were two other students already there. They were sitting at a small, circular table and Loki recognized them both.

“Yo,” Tony said in greeting. He elbowed his companion. “Brucie, do you know Loki? He’s a first year, too.”

“We have Charms class together,” Bruce mumbled and Loki only barely heard him.

“Bruce is my son,” Tony announced proudly. Bruce groaned and Loki raised an eyebrow in question. “I adopted him.”

Bruce rolled his eyes, looking exasperated.

“His parents adopted me.”

“Yeah, but they only did that because I insisted. Therefore, you’re my son.”

Loki didn’t understand Tony, but he was entertaining.

“Can I sit with you guys?”

“Oh, yeah, sure. I’m studying potions right now.” Loki sat by Bruce, looking at his book. “I’m working on second year curriculum right now, but Tony can help you with whatever you want to study.”

“I was going to work on Defense Against the Dark Arts.” Loki pulled out his DADA book.

“I know all of Aunt Peggy’s tests like the back of your hand.” Tony switched seats so that he was beside Loki. “Is it alright if I write in your book? That would be the easiest way—Actually, you write it. Aunt Peggy knows my handwriting.” Tony narrowed his eyes and looked around the deserted hall. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

Tony bolted out of the room and Bruce shook his head with a smile.

“What?”

“Just study. You’ll see soon enough.”

Loki shrugged, going back to his original plan of reading and taking notes. If he couldn’t be in Gryffindor, he would at least get high marks. Maybe his father wouldn’t be as disappointed that way.

After reading the first line, Loki’s sleepiness came back full force.

Typical.

He blinked a few times before focusing back on the book.

A page and a half later Caretaker Coulson came into the study hall. His eyes swept over the area.

“5 points for Slytherin and Ravenclaw for diligent studying.” Coulson left without another word.

“How did Tony know Caretaker Coulson was coming?” Loki asked when he was sure Coulson was gone.

“I have no idea. I think it’s his superpower.”

Five minutes later, Tony sauntered back in and they continued studying.

*

Sunday went by too fast. Loki felt like he hardly had a weekend, what with all the club meetings and studying.

Loki sat down heavily in his seat. He was not looking forward to History of Magic. Thankfully, it was an easy class. It would probably be easier if it wasn’t his first class in the morning.

“Good morning,” Jane said while sitting next to him. Loki grunted in response. She laid out her quill and parchment. Loki sighed and figured he should do the same. “Steve mentioned you asked Tony Stark how well he knew charms,” Jane whispered to him. “Do you think he can be trusted with Operation Ring Around the Rosy?”

Loki snorted loudly, catching the attention of Natasha and a few other students. He waved her off, but she continued watching them.

Loki dropped his voice even lower.

“I don’t know. He doesn’t care about rules and avoids Caretaker Coulson and his dad. Professor Carter is his aunt, though.” Loki thought back to all the interactions he had with him. “I think we should put it to vote in the group.”

Jane nodded in agreement.

*

After History of Magic, his other classes went by fast—excluding his Flying Class when he fell off his broom. No one saw him, though, so he didn’t count it as actually having happened.

Loki was walking to dinner when he was tackled into an empty room.

“Shh,” Darcy said, her hand over Loki’s mouth. “We have a problem. Clint Barton’s been asking questions.” Darcy pulled her hand away and stepped back. “He’s friends with Natasha Romanoff, right?”

“They’re not friends, I think. He works for her family.” Loki’s heart was still racing from her surprise attack.

“The Romanoffs are a dark magic family.” Darcy bit her lip nervously. “What if she comes after us? She’d totally use this against us.” There was genuine fear in her eyes.

“I don’t think… She wouldn’t,” Loki frowned, not knowing what to say.

“Dark magic. I don’t want to get on her bad side. I’m not a pureblood like you.”

“If you want out of,” Loki paused, “Operation Ring Around the Rosy, that’s okay. She kinda scares me, too.”

Darcy took in a deep breath.

“No, nope. I’m gonna do what I want. She can’t, like, kill a first year, right?”

“If she does, you’ll probably die in a really cool way.”

Loki’s joke fell flat.

*

Loki could feel Natasha’s eyes on him, searching for every secret he held dear.

She was subtle about it, but now that he knew she was onto him, he couldn’t help but notice.

Thankfully, Ultron shouting at his brother, Vision, pulled attention away from him.

Loki could only hear one part of the argument since Vision was talking softly to Ultron.

Loki couldn’t make heads or tails of their argument.

It only ended when Headmaster Stark took points away from both their houses.

*

Tuesday meant he had his dreaded Transfigurations Class.

At least he had Herbology first to ease into the day—and to build up his anxiety.

Bucky was trying to keep Loki calm with jokes, but it was hard to concentrate on him with Professor Green talking.

Loki was tempted to open his Transfiguration book, but he didn’t want to risk being caught and losing even more house points.

“You’ve got this,” Bucky said at the end of class.

“I hope so.” Loki gnawed on his lip as he began the long trek to class.

His feet felt heavy as he walked.

Tony said he’d sit in on their class, but when Loki got there, Tony was nowhere in sight.

Loki sighed, too anxious to be disappointed.

He waited outside the classroom with Jane and Steve for as long as possible with Jane quizzing them. Her calm and put together voice steadied Loki.

They walked in as a united force.

Loki almost felt confident—but a single glare from Zola shattered that.

Loki nearly stumbled.

The moment the class began, Loki and Steve were bombarded by questions.

None of them were in the chapter they were supposed to read that week, or even the one following that chapter.

*

“That was rough,” a Slytherin from their class said. Loki didn’t know his name. “My father will hear about this.”

“Tony?” Loki asked him, startling Jane and Steve.

The unfamiliar face grinned brightly.

“I knew you were a clever one.”

“But… how?” Steve asked, his blue eyes wide.

“Polyjuice potion,” Jane answered for him.

“Yup. Traded some Charms class notes for a bit of hair.” Tony winked at them and it looked odd on the otherwise dull face. “I was lucky. Prof Fury was already cooking up some polyjuice. He’ll know I’m the one who took some of it, though, and will be hunting me down.” Despite his words, Tony was smiling brightly.

“You’re insane,” Jane said.

“Probably.”

*

The rest of the week flew by with very little change.

He did notice that Natasha, Clint, and Barney watched him closely, giving credence to Darcy’s warning.

That came to a head Saturday morning.

Clint was following Loki.

He wasn’t sure how he noticed Clint, but when he did there was no way to ignore him.

Loki didn’t know what to do. He wanted to run away, but knew he wouldn’t be fast enough if Clint chased him. If he went to a professor he might be labeled as paranoid.

Anxiety and fear started building up.  

Natasha’s family was infamous for using dark magic. More than one of her family members had ended up in Azkaban.

Why did Pietro have to poke fun at her?

The Romanoffs wouldn’t hesitate to hurt them, even though he and Pietro were from Pureblood families.

Loki remembered having to go to the Romanoff Castle as an infant. It had been deep in the woods and the castle had loomed ominously. He had had nightmares for weeks afterwards.

Loki couldn’t lead Clint back to his friends. He might overhear something about Operation Ring Around the Rosy.

He had to get away—

The tapestry Tony had appeared out of.

Loki wasn’t sure how it worked, but he was getting desperate and knew if he kept walking around Clint would realize he was on to him.

Loki had to hold himself back from quickening his pace, knowing it would give him away.

It took a grueling amount of time to get close to the hall where the tapestry was.

When he turned the last corner, he bolted off, leaving Clint out of sight.

His breath sped up from apprehension rather than fatigue.

Loki got to the tapestry and pulled it to the side—only to find a solid wall.

Loki didn’t let his shock slow him down.

The hidden passage Tony had pointed out in the alcove hadn’t been visible.

On instinct Loki reached out—and his hand went right through the stonewall.

He walked through it without hesitation.

The tapestry fell back into place and looked like it changed into a stained-glass window, giving him a clear view of the hall.

Clint appeared a moment later and Loki put a hand over his own mouth so that Clint couldn’t hear his heavy breathing. 

Clint froze and looked around. His movements became slow and methodical.

Loki’s heart was racing as he looked through the stained-glass scenery.

Clint left with a look of frustration on his face.

Loki waited an extra ten minutes before leaving—or at least trying to leave.

The stained-glassed window didn’t budge no matter how hard he tried to push it.

Loki took in a shaky breath and glanced behind him.

Darkness, unyielding and daunting.

Loki squeezed his eyes shut.

He pulled out his wand and tried out a spell he’d learned earlier in the week.

“ _ Lumos _ .”

It didn’t work.

He began humming a song his mother sang when she was trying to comfort him.

On his third try, his wand lit up.

He examined the edges of the stained-glass window, but saw no notches or handles.

Loki didn’t know any spells to open doors or unlock them.

There was no way forward.

Odin’s harsh voice telling him not to be a baby rang clearly in his mind.

Thor wouldn’t be scared.

Thor would laugh and think of this as a new adventure.

Loki wished he could be like that.

He began down the dark passage.

As he continued walking his hand brushed against the stonewall. The cold stone was almost comforting—until he realized the passage was narrowing.

He came to a T and hesitated. He wished he had a Galleon to flip to choose which direction to go.

Thor wouldn’t even hesitate.

Loki glanced both ways.

Neither looked particularly used.

He decided to go left since it was wider.

The stone passages felt endless and Loki’s heart sank the longer he wandered around.

Hunger started gnawing at him and his eyes were foggy with tears.

He kept wiping away his tears on the sleeve of his robe, but they weren’t stopping.

His humming wasn’t helping either.

If only he—

Loki’s next step was met with air.

He went tumbling forward, falling, falling, falling—

There was a loud crack as Loki landed in a heap.

Loki was pulsing with pain.

Distantly he saw his wand clatter away from him.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I nearly didn't post today since I hardly did any writing this week.

* * *

 

Loki wasn’t sure if he fell asleep or passed out.

His leg was at an odd angle and hurt.

His bleeding had stopped.

But the light of his _Lumos_ spell had gone out at some point, leaving Loki in overwhelming darkness.

He’d gone hoarse from crying and calling for help.

No one heard him, though.

Alone.

In the dark.

Did anyone even notice he was gone?

Did they even care?

Would they even look for him?

“Why?” Loki rasped out.

He was in so much pain.

Loki just wanted to go home and snuggle with his mom.

He’d give anything for Thor to rescue him.  

He wanted his big brother to make everything right like he used to.

Loki cried himself dry.

And then there was a wisp of light.

It was almost blinding.

He heard a voice and called out.

A shrill scream made his hair stand on end.

An ethereal woman came flying towards him—a ghost.

She was accompanied by two other ghosts, both men.

“You shouldn’t be here!” she shouted.

“Get out!”

“Monster!”

Loki covered his ears with his hands, but he could still hear their threats and insults.

He hummed his mother’s song as loud as he could.

Loki was rocking back and forth, all his pain flaring with renewed vigor.

His eyes were screwed shut, but he could sense them circling him.

Their verbal abuse went on endlessly and Loki just wanted to disappear.

He wasn’t sure how long it went on before there was silence.

Loki was lifted, but he was too scared to open his eyes.

Someone was speaking to him.

Loki started struggling, sending jolts of pain through his body.

A spell was cast and Loki lost consciousness.

*

Loki woke up in the hospital wing.

No one was around.

“Hello?” Loki called out, fear encroaching on him.

“Coming.” A witch with black hair appeared, a clipboard in hand. “I’m Madame Cho. You gave us a scare, Mr. Borson.”

“What happened?”

She handed him a cup of something.

“Drink this.”

Loki didn’t argue with her, knowing it wouldn’t do him any good.

The drink was soothing and some of the tension in his shoulders eased away.

“You got into the walls of the castle and took a tumble.”

“The ghosts,” Loki said, his eyes tearing up.

“Headmaster Stark has been notified.” Loki flinched. He couldn’t imagine how many house points would be docked for this. “We were all worried. You were missing for nearly a day.”

“A day?”

“Yes, and you slept through Sunday.” Madame Cho took his pulse. “I had to send your brother off to bed. He’d been looking for you the whole time and refused to leave your side when Caretaker Coulson found you.” Madame Cho brushed back Loki’s hair, examining his eyes.

“It’s Monday? I need to get to class.” Loki tried to get up, but Madame Cho wouldn’t allow him to stand.

“Your professors understand your special circumstances and have assignments being sent to you.”

“Special circumstances?”

“The bones you broke are all healed up, but your tendons will take longer,” Madame Cho said smoothly. Loki stretched his right leg. It felt fine. “Drink up.”

Loki took another sip.

“Do my parents know what happened?” He didn’t want his mother to worry and he knew Odin would be disappointed in him.

“Yes, that reminds me,” Madame Cho went to the side table Loki hadn’t noticed before, “your mother sent you these.” She handed him a pouch of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans. Loki smiled and happily took them. “Just rest for now, Mr. Borson.”

*

Loki woke up to whispered voices.

He opened his eyes with great effort.

Professor Zola and Professor Amora.

There was a third person too, a woman with short hair that Loki didn’t recognize.

He couldn’t make out what they were saying.

Zola glanced at him and scowled. His wand flicked out and Loki fell back to sleep.

By morning Loki had forgotten the strange scene.

*

Every time Loki closed his eyes, he saw the screaming faces of the ghosts, making every night a struggle to sleep.

Loki’s brother and Loki’s… friends weren’t allowed to visit him.

The only one who visited him, other than Madame Cho’s obligatory checkups, was Headmaster Stark.

Up close, Headmaster Stark looked far more severe than when Loki saw him the first day.

He questioned Loki about what the ghosts said and what he was doing in the walls.

Loki said he accidentally got into the secret passage when he tripped.

Talking about the ghosts was difficult.

Every time Loki did he ended up crying.

Headmaster Stark pulled the story from him and told him the secret passage would be sealed and the situation would be investigated.

That was no comfort for Loki.

He was just grateful that his mother had sent Madame Cho the recipe for her heartfelt hot coco.

He had a cup every meal, warming up his soul and fighting against his lingering fear.

*

Loki felt bad for missing his Tuesday classes and leaving Steve alone to face Zola.

Maybe Jane was allowed to sit with him during class—

Loki highly doubted that, though.

Loki should have asked Headmaster Stark if he received the letter about Zola from Tony.

The workload Zola sent him was heavier than all his other classes combined.

Loki was released from the Hospital Wing Wednesday night while everyone was at dinner. He’d already eaten so he decided to go straight to the Slytherin dungeon.

He was told Pietro had been looking after Loki’s ‘lope.

Bertie chirped in joy when she saw him. He opened her cage and she hopped into his waiting hands.

Loki nuzzled against her, unbothered by her nubby antlers.

She began purring and Loki fought back his tears.

He had missed her so much.

Loki chuckled weakly when she licked up one of his tears.

He set her down and changed into his pajamas.

Loki didn’t want to talk to anyone, but he wasn’t tired. He gathered up Bertie, his bedsheet, and the last of his jellybeans and went to the common room. He curled up in front of the fireplace and idly wondered where the smoke went.

He spied a mermaid through the window and smiled.

His peace was soon interrupted by people coming back from dinner.

Curious eyes were all over him, making Loki regret not going straight to sleep.

Natasha and Barney’s stare was particularly heavy, even though they tried to hide it.

“What happened?” Pietro asked right away while sitting in the chair across from Loki.

More eyes were drawn to them.

“I missed your Quidditch try outs,” Loki said, not trying to be subtle. “Did you get picked?”

Pietro smiled.

“Yeah, I’m a chaser! We’re going to beat Gryffindor this year!” There were a few cheers in response.

Loki chuckled.

He felt a bit better, being surrounded by allies and like minded people.

Maybe being a Slytherin wasn't so bad.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really shouldn't update since I haven't been writing for this story as of late, but I'm weak!
> 
> Happy Bday to Temul! She betas this story and is a peach!

* * *

Loki stayed in the common room, not wanting to risk falling asleep where others could hear him wake up crying.

He’d moved closer to the fireplace, scared of the dark in a way he hadn’t been since he was 6.

Loki kept thumbing his wand, the spell  _ Lumos _ on the tip of his tongue.

He noticed there was a crack on the side of his wand, probably from when he dropped it while falling.

His first wand. He hadn’t even had it for a month and it was damaged.

Odin was going to scold Loki for being so careless.

A wizard’s wand was expensive and a wizard was supposed to have only one in their lifetime.

Loki’s wand was swiped out of his hand.

“Hmm, a pine and,” Tony looked closer at the wand, “and mermaid hair. Looks like a piece was chipped off.” Tony swooshed the wand. “It’s young, but loyal.”

“Give that back,” Loki said while lunging for his wand.

Bertie hissed at being dislodged from Loki’s lap.

“Relax.” Tony handed the wand back.

Loki grumbled and petted Bertie, calming her down.

“Tough crowd,” Tony said dully while shifting on his feet. “I heard you used the tapestry you saw me come from.” Tony scuffed his foot and stared at the ground. “That was pretty stupid of you.”

Loki looked away.

“I should have told you that the tapestry can only be opened once a day. My bad.” Loki didn’t know what to say to him and was afraid that if he looked at Tony he’d start crying. He was still so scared. “If I’d known you wanted to…” Tony sighed. “I can make it up to you!” Tony suddenly sounded excited. “The piece of your wand that is missing will be in the Room of Lost Wands!”

Loki looked at him with suspicion. Nothing showed on Tony’s face beyond pure enthusiasm.

“Such a place exists?” Loki asked, holding back a sniffle.

“This is Hogwarts! Of course it exists!” Tony bounced on his feet in excitement. “But you can’t tell anyone about it. It’s one of my clubhouses.” Tony winked at him while grinning.

“Clubhouses?”

“Where me and my crew hangout. Only cool kids are allowed.” Tony was grinning from ear to ear.

Loki bit his lip.

Tony Stark was probably bad news, but…

Loki really wanted to be friends with him.

“Sure, okay.”

*

Loki was easy prey come Thursday’s Transfigurations class.

“Mr. Borson, I heard you took a trip in the walls. No children want to befriend you so you seek the company of house elves?”

“He’s my—”

“Silence,” Zola said firmly, cutting Steve off.

Loki wanted to sigh. He was so tired.

No sleep last night. Endless questions during breakfast. The whispered rumors during Herbology.

And now this.

“Yes, Professor Zola. I haven’t a friend in the world. Poor me,” Loki said dryly, his expression blank.

A few students laughed tentatively.

Zola’s pig-like face screwed up into a scowl.

“I won’t have you sassing me.”

“I was only agreeing with you, sir.” Loki didn’t bother to change is dry tone.

“Ten points from Slytherin. Take a seat and try to mind your manners.”

Loki moved to sit down, but wasn’t done.

“Did you take away points for me agreeing with you, sir? If I disagree will I gain points?”

“Not another word.”

“Or what? You’ll take away more points? You’re like a bird who can only sing one song.”

No one was snickering now.

“Detention for the rest of the week.”

“Look everyone! He knows more than one song!”

“And for the next week! You’re testing my patience, Borson. I can and  _ will _ expel you if you continue.”

“Fat chance!” Jane shouted while standing. “Only the headmaster can expel someone!”

“Ten points from Ravenclaw and you’ll be joining Borson in detention.” Zola’s face was beet red. “Anyone else want detention?”

“I wouldn’t be opposed,” Steve said while raising his hand innocently.

“All three of you out of my classroom!”

“Let’s go to the library, you guys,” Jane said as she gathered her things. “Maybe then we’ll actually learn something.”

Jane stuck her tongue out at Zola as she ran out.

Loki and Steve laughed while following her.

*

“I only have six names on this list, Mr. Barnes, and yours isn’t one of them,” Caretaker Coulson said while looking over the rim of his parchment.

“I’m here in sala—” Bucky struggled with the word, “solo—solidarity!” Bucky nodded at himself. “I’m here in solidarity.”

Loki snickered and Bucky glared at him.

“That’s fine. We can always use an extra pair of hands.”

Steve puffed up his chest, looking proud of Bucky.

Jane hadn’t arrived to detention yet. There were two other students that looked older that Loki didn’t recognize. They were sitting at different tables. The Hufflepuff girl was jotting something down while the Ravenclaw boy was mumbling to himself.

A familiar voice made Loki scowl. He turned towards the door and saw Frandral come in with Jane.

Loki swooped in to save her from Frandral’s dreadful flirting.

“Jane! I’ve missed you terribly.” He hugged her and after a second of hesitation Jane hugged him back.

“Loki.” Frandral had a petulant look on his face and he’d crossed his arms.

“Oh, Frandral. I didn’t see you there.” Loki looped his arm with Jane’s and they walked away.

“Thanks. He wouldn’t stop flirting with me. It was so embarrassing.” Jane whispered to him once they were out of earshot. Her face was blotchy and her lips were pursed.

“He’s one of my brother’s friends and was always a jerk to me.” Loki glanced backwards and thumbed his nose at Frandral who made an ugly face in return.

“Ms. Foster?” Caretaker Coulson asked.

“Yes, sir,” Jane said, coming to attention.

Coulson hummed in acknowledgment.

“Professor Fury needs Slug Snot. You all will be harvesting that tonight under my supervision.”

“What will the Slug Snot be used for?” the blond Hufflepuff asked.

“Ms. Everhart, you’ll have to ask Professor Fury.” Coulson’s voice was mellow, but Loki could sense his annoyance. Coulson pulled out his wand and with a swoosh seven hideous ponchos appeared. “Suit up. This is a messy job.”

Loki’s groan was echoed by a few other students.

Loki picked up a poncho and it crinkled loudly in his hand. Something flaked off it and Loki nearly dropped the poncho.

“Time’s wasting,” Coulson called out. Loki pulled on the poncho, then brushed his hair back.

Loki laughed when he saw Steve. He was practically drowning in his poncho.

Steve glowered and Bucky ruffled his hair, just making it worse.

“This does not look good on Doom,” the Ravenclaw boy said as he adjusted his poncho.

Caretaker Coulson began leaving and everyone followed. 

“You’re Loki Borson. I’m Christine Everhart. Care to comment on what happened while you were missing last Saturday evening?” Loki felt himself wilting under her inquisitive stare.

“Shove off,” Jane said while stepping between Loki and Christine.

“I’m asking for The Huff, the Hufflepuff House’s newsletter,” Christine said over Jane’s head. “We’d love to know what happened.”

“I have nothing to say.”

“I’ve known Loki all his life,” Frandral said, grinning from ear to ear. “It’s not the first time little Loki has gotten lost. He does it all the time back home for attention.”

Christine’s eyes lit up.

“Really? Would you say you two are close friends?”

“The closest! Last time we had a sleepover he peed his pants!”

“Frandral! I was five!” Loki shouted, his face heating up from embarrassment. “We’re not friends. You’re just one of my brother’s followers.” Loki was glaring daggers at him, but Frandral looked unimpressed.

“Yeah, Loki is  _ our  _ friend,” Steve said, startling Loki.

“People are trying to study,” Coulson said, quieting them all down.

Loki stared at his feet as he walked, trying to calm down.

Why was everyone so damn curious?

This was Hogwarts.

Strange things were meant to happen here.

Loki just had to wait for the next strange thing to happen and then he’d be in the clear.

Christine and Frandral drifted to the back of the group and Loki could barely hear them whispering.

Loki ground his teeth together, hating Thor and his friends even more than usual.

Steve elbowed Loki, drawing Loki’s attention to him. Steve was smiling comfortingly.

Loki let out a slow breath and felt a bit better.

*

Loki was exhausted and covered in filth.

He had no idea that harvesting Slug Snot would be so difficult.

The moon slugs were nearly translucent, making it difficult to see them. The slugs were slippery and hard to catch.

The little buggers even had teeth and had bitten Loki more than once.

Once they were actually caught, there was the task of getting them to sneeze.

The gooseberry pepper made both the moon slugs and students sneeze terribly.

Loki had sneezed so much that he got a headache.

Everything had been so hectic that there wasn’t time to talk.

The trudge back to the Slytherin Dungeon had been painstaking.

Loki felt his self-esteem being chipped away at since everyone was giving him a wide berth. He knew it was because he was covered in slime, but it brought back to life his earlier fear of having no friends.

Loki snagged his bathrobe and towel from his trunk, being careful not to goop them up.

In the boy’s lavatory, he turned on the shower. The water was too hot right away. Loki sighed and took off his clothes.

He got into the shower, not bothering to try to adjust the temperature.

Loki’s breath caught in his throat. The steam looked just like a formless ghost.

Loki slapped his hands over his mouth to keep from screaming. He screwed his eyes shut and tried to breathe.

The thick, wet air stuck in his throat, making him gag.

The water pelted on him, scorching his skin.

Loki sunk down onto the floor, the ghosts’ insults whispered in his ears, loud yet effervescent.

A sharp pain across his face made Loki open his eyes.

“You purebloods are weak!” a monster shouted, right in Loki’s face. “The half-Veelas are the way of the future!” Loki reeled backwards before he recognized Ultron. “You are in my favorite stall. Get out!”

Loki scrambled to stand up, nearly slipping on the tiles.

“You are such a creep!” another Slytherin boy shouted at Ultron.

It was enough of a distraction for Loki to slip by Ultron. He pulled on his bathrobe and hurried out of the boy’s lavatory.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big thanks to Temul, who edits this up for me. Happy belated birthday!

* * *

 

Loki fell asleep in History of Magic the following morning.

Professor Strange didn’t notice, but Natasha did.

Her suspicion was growing and Loki didn’t know how to stop it. 

His day was weighed down by fatigue until he was held after in Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

“Come along now, dear,” Professor Carter said while ushering him into her office.

Loki stared in wonder at all the dueling trophies that mingled with the books on her shelves. There was also a photo of her seated by a blond woman with a little Tony Stark on her lap.

Professor Carter made herself comfortable on a seat and gestured for Loki to do the same.

He felt himself being sucked into the overly stuffed chair.

With a smooth motion of her wand two mugs that were topped with whipped cream appeared between them.

Loki happily took the other mug, recognizing his mother’s hot coco. He was amazed by how kind Madame Cho and Professor Carter were.

It made him feel a little bit better about being away from home.

“Ghosts are not inherently dark creatures,” Professor Carter explained, instantly making Loki uncomfortable. “They have little effect on the living world beyond the things they say.” She took a sip of her hot coco, wiping the whipped cream off her upper lip with a napkin. “What they said to you was unacceptable and an anomaly. The  _ Lumos _ spell repels ghosts, but there are stronger light-creation spells.”

“Headmaster Stark said they wouldn’t bother me anymore,” Loki said, clutching his hot coco close to his chest. Had he been lied to?

“They won’t, but I thought it would be prudent for you to learn these spells. You will eventually have to learn them later on.”

Loki nodded shallowly.

*

Loki walked out of her office nearly an hour later to find Steve waiting outside of it for him.

“Is everything alright? Does she know about,” Steve’s voice dropped, “Operation Ring Around the Rosy? Did she ask about me?”

Steve glanced from Loki to the closed door back and forth.

“No, uh, this was about the other thing.” Loki still hadn’t told his friends exactly what had happened.

He knew they wouldn’t make fun of him, but he didn’t want to risk losing any of them.

There was an awkward silence between him and Steve.

Loki hated the awkwardness, but it was better than losing a friend. 

*

During detention that night Loki learned why the others had gotten in trouble.

Frandral had tried to enter the girl’s dormitory to talk to Sif, according to him. Loki didn’t believe him for a second.

Christine Everhart hadn’t actually gotten in trouble. She was in detention to write an article about it.

Victor Doom had been in the restricted reading section and his ramblings were seriously worrying Loki.

*

Saturday morning Pietro received a howler wishing him good luck at his quidditch practice and that there would be a top of the line broomstick waiting for him in the dorm.

The Slytherins cheered and made hissing noises.

The Gryffindors tried taunting them, but the Slytherins were too amped to care.

*

After breakfast Loki and his friends met up in an empty classroom to discuss Operation Ring Around the Rosy, ORAR.

Steve was not looking good. His skin was sallow and his shoulders were hunched over.

“Come on, Stevie. Let’s just go to the Hospital Wing,” Bucky said while shifting nervously.

“I’m fine.” The stubborn set of his shoulders made it clear that he didn’t want to talk about it.

“Dude, you look like a soggy pillow,” Darcy said and Jane snorted loudly.

“I’m  _ fine _ .” Steve glared at them.

Loki cleared his throat.

“Any progress on finding other people wearing rings?” Loki asked, trying not to think about the Hospital Wing.

“Uh, I forgot to look after we went to all the different clubs,” Darcy admitted, blushing. Jane pinched Darcy. “Hey!”

Darcy shoved Jane.

Jane mussed up Darcy’s hair in retaliation.

They started bickering about things Loki didn’t understand, smiling the whole time.

Despite being in different houses they were already great friends.

Jane and Darcy were best friends.

Bucky and Steve were best friends.

Loki was an outsider.

His throat felt tight and Loki looked away from them.

Always an outsider.

“I didn’t see anyone in Ravenclaw wearing rings like you guys’.” Jane was still messing with Darcy as she spoke. “I think only you two have rings. We just have to figure out what else you have in common.”

“I don’t think we have anything in common. We’re in different houses. All of Loki’s clothes and books are new. He’s a pureblood and I’m… not,” Steve glanced at his lap.

“None of those things matter,” Bucky said before Loki could even fathom how to respond.

“He’s right,” Loki said while picking at the hem of his robes. He couldn’t even tell Steve’s robes weren’t new.

Loki knew his family was rich and that Steve was an orphan… Did Steve resent him for that?

“You both go to Hogwarts, but so do the rest of us,” Darcy added making Loki smile tentatively.

“It doesn’t matter where you come from,” Bucky said, “we’re all equal.”

*

After a bit more debate they had decided that they needed to know more about the meaning of the charms on the rings.

Loki told them about how Tony Stark had boasted about charms being his best subject. They had agreed to bring him into the fold.

There was only one problem.

“How the heck are we supposed to find him?” Jane asked with her cat, Caelum, resting on her lap. They were sitting with Darcy in the pet club.

Steve and Bucky would have been there except Steve had finally given in and decided to go to the Hospital Wing.

“I have no idea. Tony pretty much disapparates when he wants to.” Loki made a face, doing his best not to think of Tony using secret passages. Bertie nuzzled against him, somehow sensing his distress.

“Am I the only one who hasn’t met him?” Darcy asked while watching her pygmy puff, Bork, roll around the room.

“I didn’t really meet him,” Jane said. “I was going to Charms class early and he was sneaking out of the room. He put his finger over his lip and winked at me.” Jane made a face. “Are you sure he’s not crazy? Why doesn’t he want to get sorted into a house?”

“Probably because he’d end up costing his house hundreds of points a day, duh.” Darcy made a flippant hand motion before jumping out of her seat. “Watch where you’re going! You almost stepped on my Bork!”

“I almost tripped over your stupid animal!” a Ravenclaw boy shouted at her, gripping his rat carefully. “The small pets have a playpen area for a reason!”

Before their arguing could escalate, the phoenix made a screeching noise and Pepper stepped in, speaking to them in a low voice.

Loki and Jane turned their attention away from her.

“I don’t think he’s crazy,” Loki said, picking their conversation back up. “He’s actually pretty cool.”

Loki blushed at his admission. He hadn’t meant to say it.

Loki wished he was as carefree as Tony was.

“He actually owes me a favor.” Loki had nearly forgotten. Everything just felt so hectic that his brushes with Tony were usually surreal.

“Why does he owe you a favor?”

“Oh, uh, no reason in particular.” Loki held Bertie a little closer when the phoenix flew over their heads. It perched on the table next to theirs. He was still amazed that Headmaster Stark had a phoenix.

Jane gave him a measured look before shrugging.

“He said he’d help me out. I’ll probably see him in a few days.”

*

Loki and Jane were talking about their favorite foods back home while waiting for Caretaker Coulson—

When Thor walked in.

“What are you doing here?” Loki asked, nearly snarling.

Thor puffed up his chest and Frandral mirrored him.

“My baby brother was in trouble. It is my duty to make sure you are properly reprimanded.”

“Really? I heard you chugged a potion in Fury’s class on a dare and almost died,” Jane said while smirking.

Thor’s face became ruddy and he looked up at the ceiling.

“I knew what I was doing.”

“Sure you did.” Jane snickered and Loki joined in.

“He did!” Frandral stomped his foot indignantly.

Jane rolled her eyes while scoffing before walking over to Thor.

She was a good head shorter than him.

Jane patted him on the shoulder.

“It’s okay not to be the smartest person in the room.”

Jane walked back over to Loki and Thor was left stunned.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a shorter chapter, mostly because I didn't write this story with chapters in mind. *shrugs*

* * *

 

Loki hesitated outside of the clubroom.

He had missed the first Indoor Sports and Games meeting. They might not be accepting members anymore.

“Hey Loki,” Bruce greeted him weakly, startling Loki and embarrassing him.

Loki glanced at the door and nodded.

He opened the door and the soft murmuring of different groups talking was almost comforting.

Loki stuck by Bruce’s side.

“About time you got here, Bruce,” a Black student who looked like a second or third year said. He was a Gryffindor and looked oddly familiar. He glanced at Loki and his smile widened. “You’re Thor’s little brother. Me and him are on the quidditch team together.”

“I’m Loki, not  _ just _ Thor’s little brother,” Loki said indignantly.

The other boy laughed loudly.

“Fair enough. I’m James Rhodes. I go by Jim, though.” Loki was surprised when Jim went to his side and leaned in close. “I heard you’ve been invited to the Room of Lost Wands. Tony must like you.”

“Oh, uhm, I don’t know what you’re talking about?”

Jim laughed again.

“He’s one of Tony’s friends, too, Loki,” Bruce explained. “In Tony’s words, he’s ‘one of the cool kids’.” Bruce rolled his eyes, but was smiling at the same time.

“You guys talk about me?” Loki asked, his voice sounding choked off.

Jim slapped Loki on the back, chuckling. He quickly sobered up.

“When it was obvious that you were somewhere in the secret passages me, Tones, and Bruce did our best to find you. We were surprised when Coulson found you first.”

“Tony didn’t tell you?” Bruce asked while looking at Jim. “He drew Coulson a map of the area he thought Loki would be in.” Jim’s eyes went wide. “It’s only a matter of time before Coulson maps out the rest of the secret passages.”

“I’m sorry,” Loki blurted out. “I was being stupid and—”

“Hey now, it’s fine. I haven’t seen Tony in a while. I know him. He’s putting up dead ends and changing the patterns and speed of the moving tunnels.” Jim looked certain, taking a load off Loki’s shoulders.

“Moving tunnels?”

“Like the staircases.” Bruce leaned in close to Loki, his voice dropping to a whisper. “There’s an orb in Headmaster Stark’s office that controls the tunnels and staircases’ movements, but he thinks it only affects the staircases.” Bruce chuckled. “Headmaster Stark took over from Chester Phillips. He used to carry Tony around the castle when he was a toddler, showing him all the secret passages and tricks.”

“Enough about that old goblin. If Tony knew we were talking about him, he’d have a field day.” Jim rolled his eyes, but was smiling fondly. “Bruce, you owe me a game of Uta-Potions.”

“Ready to lose again?” Bruce asked, shedding the meek disposition that Loki was used to seeing. He pulled a pack of cards out of his robes. There was a boiling cauldron on the front of the pack.

“I’ve been practicing with FitzSimmons.” Jim walked past Bruce, knocking his shoulder against his, reminding Loki too much of Thor. “You coming, Loki?”

Loki pushed away his thoughts and followed the pair to a circular table.

Bruce threw the pack in the middle of the table and cards started spewing out. They shuffled themselves midair before gently scattering on the table.

The empty pack stood on the edge of the table. The flap formed a mouth and made a sound like it was clearing its throat.  

“Names?” the pack asked.

“Bruce.”

“Jim.”

Loki hurriedly pulled over a chair to watch them.

“Are you ready?”

“Yes,” they said together, their eyes flickering over the different cards. Each had a hand hovering over the table, ready to strike.

Loki mostly knew how the game was played.

The pack would read out the first part of potion ingredients and the players would try to swipe away the card that had the second half of the ingredients.

“Spiraled shell of a snail, eye of newt—” Both Jim and Bruce’s hand jumped forward, but Jim was a split second faster. The card went flying before stopping midair. “Point, Jim,” the pack announced and the card hovered behind Jim.

A few other students came over to watch the game.

As the game progressed Loki’s attention was caught by a distant conversation.

“I was really looking forward to Nearly Headless Nick’s Deathday party,” someone said dejectedly, “but I haven’t seen him this year yet.”

Loki glanced over at them subtly. A Gryffindor boy had spoken to a Ravenclaw girl with glasses.

Loki remembered Thor telling him about Nearly Headless Nick earlier in the summer.

He paled at the thought of seeing another ghost.

“I haven’t seen the Grey Lady either and the house ghosts normally show up at the feast on the first day.” The Ravenclaw girl pouted and messed with her glasses.

The pair wandered to the other side of the room, leaving Loki with only part of the conversation.

He frowned to himself, wondering if their absence was connected to him.

*

Loki just wanted to go to bed. Why did he have to mouth of to Zola? Detention wasn’t worth it.

This was worse than when they had to harvest slug snot or when they got chased by Professor Green’s squirrels.

Professor Strange was monologuing… about himself.

Loki and the other students in detention didn’t have to even take notes or anything… just sit there and suffer.

*

Loki was practicing light-creation spells in the Slytherin common room.

Knowing he could easily use them was a comfort.

Yet, he couldn’t get what the ghosts said out of his mind.

_ “You shouldn’t be here!” _

_ “Get out!” _

_ “Monster!” _

The little sense of belonging he’d found in Hogwarts and in Slytherin felt fragile now.

Loki had just wanted to be part of something, but then Fury made him put on a stupid ring and Zola singled him out. And the ghosts.

Loki had always felt like he didn’t belong, like he was less than Thor and everyone else.

Maybe he was an abomination, maybe that was why he was never able to make friends.

It made sense.

The only reason he was friends with Steve was because they both had strange rings, a mystery to hold them together and once that was gone…

Loki squeezed his eyes closed.

He’d be alone and everything Thor and his friends said would be proven right.

Freak.

Loser.

Idiot.

Loki wanted to curl up on himself, but he was in the common room where anyone could see him.

He didn’t want everyone to think…

After he got lost the rumors had begun and crying would just fuel them.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is one of my favorite chapters so far~
> 
> Much love to Temul, who betas this.

* * *

Tuesday evening granted Loki no free time.

After classes he went from studying, to dinner, to Astronomy class, to detention.

He dragged himself to bed, but found he couldn’t sleep.

Bertie could sense his stress and cuddled close to him.

It didn’t help that Natasha and her underlings were back to watching him.

Barney kept walking by Loki’s bed, lacking subtlety. Loki had no doubt that he’d report back to Natasha in the morning.

Natasha  _ Romanoff _ .

Why was someone from an infamous dark wizard family stalking him?

Loki was a Borson. The Borsons were one of the families that was always on the side of the righteous. The Borsons had fought faithfully against the wizards who used their magic to hurt other people.

But the Borsons were Gryffindors and Loki wasn’t a Gryffindor.

Loki was a freak.

Maybe Natasha saw that he was different, that he could easily lose his morals and become like the Romanoffs…

Loki sat up in bed and unlocked his nightstand with a spell. His few letters from his mother were stored there.

Letters of encouragement.

But no letters from Odin.

Typical.

Thor had Odin’s constant encouragement and Loki had Frigga’s.

Thor also had Frigga’s.

It only made Loki certain that there was really something wrong with Loki.

Barney passed by Loki again and Loki refrained from shoving his letters back in his drawer. They were Loki’s only comfort beyond Bertie.

“Hey, Loki-Doki,” a voice whispered, startling Loki and making him grab his wand. Tony chuckled. “It’s me.”

Tony waved. He was crouched by Loki’s bed and Loki had no idea how he didn’t notice him before.

“Why are you always startling me?” Loki asked under his breath, trying not to wake anyone in the dorm.

He glanced around and didn’t see Barney looming.

“You’re just really easy to startle.” Tony shrugged. “Come on. Caretaker Coulson is in the Forbidden Forest. The way to the Room of Lost Wands is clear.”

Loki thumbed his wand, not immediately jumping to join Tony. He had noticed that his spells weren’t as strong or precise since a piece of his wand had broken off.

It would have never been broken, though, if he’d never met Tony.

But he’d promised the others that Tony would help decipher the charms on Loki and Steve’s rings. If Loki turned Tony down now, he might lose his goodwill.

“What about the professors and prefects?” Loki asked, finally deciding to go with Tony.

“Don’t worry. I know all their routes.”

Tony’s carefree smile was somehow reassuring.

*

Loki was thankful Tony didn’t take him through any secret passages. Loki wasn’t sure he’d be able to handle it.

They only had one close call.

One of Professor Green’s squirrels (Loki couldn’t tell them apart) had crossed their path.

It tried to run away, but Tony had somehow caught it with an almost predator like grace before it could get away.

Tony had whispered something to it while holding it by the scruff of its neck. The only words Loki could make out were acorns and talons.

It didn’t make much sense to Loki, but he couldn’t argue with the results.

The squirrel had run to the nearest statue and hid behind it.

When they reached the Room of Lost Wands Loki was amazed.

The high vaulted ceiling had the same charm as the dining hall ceiling, showing the night sky and the shifting weather. 

There were books piled haphazardly on tables behind what had to be one of the most inviting looking couches and chairs Loki had ever seen. Two Ravenclaws were sitting there, chatting to each other.

On the opposite side of the room were shelves of meticulously sorted herbs and potion ingredients, all labeled in a handwriting that Loki doubted belonged to Tony.

There was a half-hidden tailor’s mannequin behind a parchment screen that had a part of an outfit on it.

What was in the center of the room truly amazed Loki.

It was a glass tree with wands entombed in it, coloring the bark in shade of brown and black.

The leaves were… ethereal, shifting colors that pulsed with life.

“Energy from their old masters,” Tony explained as he rocked back and forth on his feet while looking up at the tree. “Wands are loyal.” Tony grinned, but it looked all wrong. Bitter and sad at the same time. An expression Loki had never seen on someone his own age. “The spell is  _ Revenite _ . A figure-eight with an upwards flick at the end.”

“How does someone get their wand back when they have no wand to cast it?” Loki asked. A girl Loki didn’t recognize snorted as she appeared from behind the changing screen.

“Then you’re screwed.” Tony laughed. “No, you just have someone else cast it.” Tony pulled out his wand.

“I can do it,” Loki said hastily and then blushed.

Loki didn’t need to prove himself to these people.

Yet he wanted to. He wanted them to like him.

Loki carefully held his wand, automatically running his thumb over the gouge.

_ “Revenite!” _

Nothing happened.

Loki’s throat got tight. He cleared it and tried again.

_ “Revenite!” _

Green sprung from Loki’s wand, washing over the tree before fading.

Loki glanced at Tony when nothing happened.

“Wait for it,” Tony said under his breath.

The tree quivered before a crack appeared. A shard of wood half the length of Loki’s thumb wiggled out of the cracked glass before shooting towards him.

Loki threw his hands up in defense and squeezed his eyes closed, preparing for the impact.

It never came. Instead, there was a slight nudging against Loki’s fingers.

Loki hesitantly opened his eyes. The shard was hovering on a wisp of green, gently trying to get Loki to open his fingers so it could rejoin the wand.

“Oh, pardon me,” Loki said politely as he moved his grip.

The thick splinter seemed to… snuggle back into place. It glowed for a moment before becoming nearly indistinguishable from the rest of the wand, if not for a few hairlines.

“Give it a try.” Tony gestured to Loki’s wand. He was smiling widely.

Loki felt a bit more confident.

_ “Lumos Solem!” _

A line of light burst forward, snaking its way up and nearly touching the ceiling.

Loki stared on in amazement.

Last time he’d used that it hadn’t—

“Back to full power.”

“I hadn’t even noticed…”

Tony walked up to the glass tree of wands and patted the trunk.

“Wands are amazing. I spent a month at Ollivanders Wand Shop learning about them.”

“In Diagon Alley? That is a,” Loki did a little mental math, “ten hour round trip back to Hogwarts.”

Tony’s face scrunched up in distaste.

“Yeah, no. I told Coulson I was going to spend the month at Diagon Alley whether he liked it or not. He set me up with his lady friend at the Magical Menagerie. She was playing the cello all the time.” Tony winced.

“Stop hogging him,” the girl by the mannequin said while walking over. She wasn’t wearing any house colors, instead she was wearing an outfit that was not Hogwarts standard. It was stylish instead of the same uniform every girl wore since before Loki’s mother attended the school. “I’m Janet van Dyne and you’re tall.”

Before Loki could protest he was being pulled over to the area with the tailor’s mannequin that he mentally labeled as hers.

“Jan, don’t kill him,” Tony called out, his laughter poorly concealed. Loki looked back at him, silently begging for help. Tony pointedly looked away.

“You’re going to be super tall one day.” Jan pulled out a tailor’s measuring tape and began taking his measurements.

“Uhm,” Loki didn’t know what to say as he was maneuvered around.

“Tony is one of my best friends,” Jan said while straightening Loki’s arm out. “If you hurt him I will  _ Obliviate  _ your whole personality.” Jan stepped away from him and smiled brightly. “Favorite color and what do you think of plaid?”

“What?” Loki croaked out.

“Don’t answer that plaid question,” a girl that he remembered meeting on the first day said from across the room. “It’s a trick!”

Jan scowled.

“I will burn your plaid PJs, Jemma! Don’t think I won’t!”

“But they’re from my mum!” Jemma complained and the boy beside her, Leo, patted her head. She leaned against him and sniffled.

“The color question still stands.” Jan eyed him with an intensity he wasn’t used to.

Loki tripped over his tongue, two answers coming to mind.

One that was the truth and one that was a lie.

His blind adoration for Thor, something he still struggled with, made him  _ want  _ his favorite color to be the same as Thor’s—A bright red that pained the eye.

But now that Loki had started accepting that being a Slytherin wasn’t bad… his love of the color green had broken free.

Loki took a deep breath, feeling proud of himself for breaking away from Thor’s influence.

“Green. My favorite color is green.”

 


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Much thanks to Temul for betaing this for me~
> 
> Short chapter due to my poor formatting skills when I was writing this story originally.

* * *

 

Loki paid for staying up so late when Wednesday morning came.

He had also forgotten to ask Tony to look at his and Steve’s rings.

He met Jemma and Leo again. He hadn’t seen them since the first night because they were taking second and third year courses. They had a strange way of finishing off each other’s sentences that was both comical and weird.

After Jan’s initial threat she became bubbly and nice. Loki was almost envious of her. She was so passionate when it came to designing clothes. Loki didn’t have anything like that.

Overall, Loki had a surprisingly good time.

*

Friday marked the last night of detention.

It was also the only night Zola was overseeing it.

Loki had been dreading it since Caretaker Coulson had mentioned it the night before.

Loki was expecting to lose house points and being berated with only breaks for Zola to berate Steve.

He wasn’t expecting Tony Stark to be sitting at the professor’s desk in the detention room.

Tony was grinning smugly and had Zola’s distinctive round glasses on the top of his head.

“Hello kiddos. I’ll be your torturer tonight. You may call me Professor Superior Stark.” Tony did a slight bow in his seat as Loki and his friends came in.

“What?” Thor asked with Frandral by his side as they walked in.

“Don’t be fooled,” Bucky said. “He might be Zola in disguise. He has his glasses.”

“These old things?” He plucked the glasses off the top of his head and put them on the table. A moment later he smashed them with a nondescript book. He used the book to push the broken glass and twisted wire into a rubbish bin by the desk. “Zola wouldn’t do that, now would he?”

“What do you think of plaid?” Loki asked while grinning.

Tony jumped out of his seat and pointed at Loki.

“That’s a trick question!”

“It’s him, you guys.”

_ “Incarcerous!” _ Thor shouted and black chains sprung from his wand, flying towards Tony.

_ “Avis!” _ Birds appeared from Tony’s wand, knocking the chains away.

_ “Petrificus Totalus!” _ Jane said half a second later. Thor’s whole body locked up and he fell backwards.

Frandral fumbled to pull out his wand.

_ “Ducklifors!”  _ There was a flash of orange from Tony’s wand that covered Frandral. It swirled around him, blinking out and revealing a duck in Frandral’s place.

There was a long pause until Loki found his voice.

“Bloody hell, Thor! What was that?” Loki kicked Thor’s prone form. Only his eyes could move and they were unreadable.

“My father put a bounty on my head,” Tony explained while ambling over to them. He picked up duck-Frandral and petted him. “300 house points for whoever can catch me and bring me to one of the professors.”

Duck-Frandral quacked and tried to pinch Tony with his bill. Tony flicked him on the head in retaliation. Duck-Frandral ruffled his feathers, but was otherwise motionless under Tony’s arm.

“Are you allowed to do that?” Steve asked, his voice tight. He was pointing at Frandral.

Tony snorted.

“Heck no, but I was defending myself.” Tony scowled. “It’s my father’s fault for giving the students a reason to attack me.”

Tony walked over to the front desk and dumped the bin’s items on the ground. He wordlessly cast a spell and filled the rubbish bin with water. Duck-Frandral jumped into it and happily swam in circles.

“I don’t know how long my spell will keep Thor in place,” Jane said while pointing her wand at Thor. “I’m going to get in so much trouble.”

“No, you won’t. Thor would never admit to being beaten by a first year, especially one that is a girl.” It was a good thing no one else was in the detention room with them.

“You have a problem with women being awesome?” Jane asked even though Thor couldn’t respond.

“He gets so mad when Sif wins against him back home. When one of his guy friends wins against him he just laughs.” Loki looked down at him. “Don’t you, Thor?” Loki could see anger in his eyes.

“This will be a good lesson in humility for him then and in how women rock.” Jane crossed her arms in front of her.

“You’re terrifying,” Bucky commented and Jane smiled proudly. “Are you sure about the woman part though? You look like a little boy to me.”

“Don’t make me use this on you,” Jane said while waggling her wand at him. Bucky put his hands up defensively, but was grinning nonetheless.

“Let’s get out of here. I have a special punishment laid out for you naughty children.”

“Aren’t you the same age as us?” Jane asked, putting her hands on her hips. She was an inch shorter than Tony, taking away from the image.

Tony waved his hand flippantly.

“Semantics. I’m the king of this castle.” Tony looked proud of himself and Jane openly scoffed. Tony stuck out his tongue at her.  

“But what if Professor Zola shows up?” Steve asked. Loki had noticed that whenever Steve mentioned Zola, his face screwed up with disgust. “I don’t want any more detention.”

“He can’t see anything without his glasses. It will take him at least two hours to find his wands.” Tony’s grin turned vicious. “I transfigured everything in his room to look like a wand and disappeared his door.”

“Serves him right,” Bucky said, but Steve didn’t seem certain.

“Is this really alright?” Steve shifted uncertainly on his feet.

“Yup!” Tony grabbed Steve’s arm and practically dragged him out.

In a daze, Loki followed them. Something about Tony inspired mischief in Loki.

After avoiding a few prefects and teachers in the halls they came to a large room filled with spare equipment. They debated amongst each other what to do before deciding on playing tag.

Their game lasted for over an hour and it was the most fun Loki had had since coming to Hogwarts.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big thanks to Temul! She makes this story shiny~

Loki was struggling to put his shoe on, refusing to unlace it first. It was Saturday morning. He didn’t want to waste a second of his hard-earned weekend.

“People from the Ministry of Magic are here to see you,” Natasha whispered to Loki, making him tumble onto the ground. He pulled his shoe on, flustered and trying to collect himself.

“How did you get in here?” Loki choked out, glancing around. A half-dressed boy had grabbed his bedsheet and was hiding behind it.

“Girls are allowed in the boy’s dorms that are her age or younger.” Natasha’s voice was steady, unbothered by the scene she was creating. “People from the Ministry of Magic are here to see you,” Natasha repeated. “A man and woman. I don’t know which departments they’re from.”

“How do you know that?” Loki asked, his voice croaking. He pulled himself off the ground and saw Barney hovering in the background.

“I’m a Romanoff. We are the Beginning and Ending.” The words echoed in Loki’s head. All the pureblood families had sayings. Loki never understood the Romanoff’s.

The Borsons’ was: The Wand is the Soul.

Loki didn’t understand that one either.

“Are you sure they’re here for me?” The attention of the other boys was making Loki sweat nervously.

“For you and Steven Rogers.” Natasha’s eyes narrowed. “What does the ministry want with you two?” She looked him over. Loki resisted the urge to hide the hand his ring was on. Natasha’s eyes didn’t linger on his hand, but that didn’t mean anything.

“Uh, it’s time for breakfast?” Loki scrambled to get away from Natasha and Barney. They let him go, yet he still felt hunted.

They were walking behind him.

The Romanoffs, a dark wizarding family.

Both the ministry and Romanoffs were after him.

Tears started blurring his eyes as footsteps echoed behind him.

He wanted to run, but last time he did he ended up with a broken leg and the screams of ghosts haunting his dreams.

Nothing about his first year of Hogwarts life had been normal so far.

He felt doomed.

Every step he took felt like a step closer to the next crisis, the next gut punch.

“Hug attack!” Loki was nearly knocked over as Darcy’s arms wrapped around him. “I heard you guys played tag without me. Not cool.”

She gave him another squeeze before letting him go. Loki felt the worst of his anxiety slip away.

“You can hardly make it up a staircase without panting like a dog. You would have been ‘it’ the whole time. That would have been no fun.” Loki shoved her half-heartedly.

“Rawr! You’re so mean!” Darcy pinched her round face. “This is all baby fat! I’m going to look like a Veela when I grow up!” Darcy threw her hands in the air as she spoke, far too animated for so early in the morning. Loki glanced backwards. Natasha and Barney were still following him, too close for comfort. Darcy followed his line of sight. “Loki is mine! Go away or I’ll go honey badger on your arses!”

Darcy clawed the air in front of her while baring her teeth.

Natasha glared at her before leaving with Barney.

“You’re fearless,” Loki marveled.

“I get it from Janey. She snuck out of her dorm last night to hang with me since she knew I was feeling down.” Darcy shrugged nonchalantly as they began walking again.

“What’s wrong?” Loki lowered his voice. They were getting closer to the feasting hall and more students were around them.

Darcy let out a puff of air.

“My first period started yesterday. I feel gross,” Darcy said without hesitation.

All the color drained from Loki’s face.

“Oh, uhm, ah, well—” Loki fled and Darcy laughed.

*

Loki was hyperalert during breakfast. He wanted to give Steve a warning about the ministry coming, but knew Natasha would analyze their interaction.

“Loki!” Darcy shouted from the Hufflepuff table. He looked over at her. She had a slice of white bread and slathered on bright red jelly.

Loki gagged.

“What is that about?” Pietro asked, his nose scrunched up.

“Trust me, you don’t want to know.” Loki pushed his plate away from himself, appetite thoroughly crushed.

“You have weird friends.” Pietro took a big bite of soufflé and didn’t bother finish chewing before speaking. “My first big quidditch game is on Sunday! You have to come!” Pietro was practically vibrating in his seat. It was infectious.

“Of course I’ll go! Who are we going against?!” He had completely forgotten Pietro was on the quidditch team.

“Ravenclaw! I’m going to kick Wanda’s ass like I always do back home!”

“She’s on the Ravenclaw team?”

“She’s a substitute, but with our beaters Ravenclaw will need all the subs they can get!” Pietro snickered and a few Slytherins cheered.

Loki laughed, loving the comradery.

His joy was short lived. Coulson gesturing for him across the hall.

Loki wanted to ignore him, but knew it would only lead to Coulson coming to get him in front of everyone.

“Bathroom.” Loki smiled at Pietro and Natasha as he got up, doubting he fooled either of them.

*

“Yes, Caretaker Coulson?” Loki asked when he reached Coulson. He was surprised how composed he sounded.

“This way.” Loki began following him out of the hall.

Loki almost hoped this was about Frandral being turned into a duck last night rather than—

“Maria Hill of the Ministry of Magic has requested a meeting with you.”

“Does that mean I can say no?”

Coulson glanced over at him, his expression unreadable.  

“I’d advise against it.”

Gloom settled over Loki.

He should have checked to see if Steve was still at breakfast before he left. Hopefully they’d be together for whatever this meeting was about.

“Have I done something wrong?” Loki didn’t bother trying to hide his worry. Coulson looked over at him again.

“Have you done something wrong?” Loki tensed up before Coulson chuckled. “No, sometimes the Department of Magical Education checks up on students that have been picked at random.”

Loki didn’t believe that for a second.

It was far too suspicious that it happened to be Loki and Steve were chosen.

And how the bloody hell did Natasha know Loki would be chosen?

The questions just kept piling up.

Loki decided that he’d be as uninformative as possible while trying to weasel out what the ministry really wanted from him.

The resolution calmed Loki down a surprising amount.

Loki almost grinned. He felt like one of those Aurors in those mystery novels his mum liked to read.

After a winding trek, Coulson knocked on a hewed door and was quickly admitted.

Two people were inside. A man and a woman, just as Natasha said.

The woman had short hair. Her expression was analytical and her robes were nondescript.

The man was tall and Black with odd eyes that unsettled Loki. He was in a bespoke suit that looked muggle made. The wand holstered to his side set him apart from a muggle, though.

They were standing by a window and didn’t speak at first, instead looking him over. He didn’t know what they saw or thought of his appearance.

“Mr. Borson, I am Maria Hill from the Department of Magical Education and this is my associate, Heimdall Goldleif.” Maria tried for a smile, but it didn’t look natural on her. Heimdall didn’t even bother trying. His yellow tinged eyes bored into Loki. “Please take a seat.”

She gestured at a table and Loki saw scars on her arms and wrists. It looked like a spell had backfired on her, showering her in sparks. It was a common scar that many duelists had, Odin being one of them.

Even if Loki had been having the most mundane first year, he wouldn’t believe her.  

Loki plastered on a clueless smile and did as she said.

Maria and Heimdall sat across from him.

Heimdall pulled out at golden pocket watch. He unfolded it and placed it on the table, facing away from Loki.

Its ticking was obscenely loud as the pair looked at him, as if they were waiting for Loki to speak first.

He tilted his head to the side, the pinnacle of confused innocence.

“How are you liking Hogwarts so far?” Maria’s question was so mundane that Loki nearly blanched. He was fast to recover, though.

“It’s been alright. You know what it’s like in Hogwarts. I bet you went here too.” There was a one in three chance that she’d gone to Hogwarts. “Have things changed much?”

“Hogwarts has always been bustling.” It was a non-answer. Loki hated when adults did that, as if he wouldn’t notice. He may be eleven, but he wasn’t stupid. “Have you had any problems since you got here?”

The ticking of the pocket watch only seemed to be getting louder.

“It’s so big here! I’ve been late to class three times already!” Maria placed her hand on the table and her pointer finger started clicking against the table in time with the watch. It was unnerving.

“It says in your records that you got lost in one of the secret passages. How did that happen?” Loki didn’t frown. He’d practically opened the door for that question to be asked.

“Why does your department care about that? It was just an accident.”

“School safety.” Maria’s answer was lackluster, yet said without missing a beat. Loki glanced at Heimdall. He gave nothing away. “Have you made any friends?”

“A few. How does one join the Department of Magical Education? I want to join when I grow up.”

“Your house head can help you with career advisement better than I can. Do students regard you as strange or avoid you?” Worries about being weird and not making any friends at Hogwarts reared their head. Loki bit his lip, unable not to feel the onslaught of negative emotions.

Did people avoid him?

Thor always said Loki was a weirdo and made it clear that him and his friends didn’t want Loki following them around.

Loki knew he had friends now, people that wanted to be around him, yet he couldn’t squash the feeling of being a freak and outsider.

“Mr. Borson?” Maria’s voice cut through Loki’s spiraling panic.

“Some students don’t like Slytherins on principle, but that’s only because they’re idiots. What house were you in?”

“Do you have any friends?” she asked, completely ignoring his question. He knew not to give her the names of his closest friends. Instead he went with what was expected of him as a Slytherin.

“Natasha Romanoff and Pietro Lehnsherr.” Both were from pureblooded families like his own. Similar backgrounds and close proximity meant friendship, right?

His half-lie worked.

“Have you been sick anytime during your stay here?” Her questions were getting stranger and stranger.

“I was after I broke my leg.”

“Other than that?”

“No, not really. Why?”

“Headaches?” She ignored his question again.

“Only when I read for a long time.” Loki’s anxiety was starting to build back up. He didn’t understand why she was asking him about his health. He knew he looked wane, but her questions felt pointed.

“Any odd cravings?”

“Why are you asking me about cravings?”

“Answer the question, Mr. Borson.” Maria’s voice was harsh and her eyes looked deadly. Loki cowered in his seat.

“No.” Loki’s voice broke.

Maria abruptly stopped clicking her finger.

“Thank you for your time, Mr. Borson. You are dismissed.”

Loki stood to leave. As he was walking away Heimdall snapped his pocket watch closed and Loki forgot their whole meeting.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Much love to Temul, who betad this story~

Loki could sense something was wrong as he went to collect Bertie to take her to the pet club.

He just wasn’t sure what it was.

Years of trying to ignore discomfort paid off, letting him push aside the unease.

Loki smiled as he walked into the first year’s boys’ dorm and saw Bertie. She chirped at him and her little wings fluttered.

He pulled a treat out for her and she purred happily. Loki opened the cage and held his hand out for her. Her fluffy little feet tickled his palm.

“How is my ‘lope doing today?” Loki whispered to her as she ate her treat. She nuzzled his palm and Loki cooed.

“You’re so gay,” an older boy said. A few of the other boys snickered.

“You’re the one creeping around in the first year’s dorm!” Loki held Bertie close to his chest protectively.

“It’s on the way to my dorm, dumbass.” He snorted in victory as he walked away.

“Whatever,” Loki grumbled to himself. He gave Bertie a kiss, then headed to the pet club.

*

“I taught Bork a trick,” Darcy announced as Loki joined her, Bucky, and Steve at the smaller animals’ playpen.

“I don’t believe you,” Loki said immediately, making Darcy’s face go red with indignation.

“It’s a really lame trick,” Bucky added, fueling Darcy’s annoyance. Loki and Bucky were wearing matching grins. Steve looked at them and his own smile grew.

“I think Bork just has gas.” Steve shrugged and Darcy lost it. She jumped out of her seat.

“Bork is a princess and magnificent! I should shave all your heads to teach you a lesson.” Darcy had her hands on her hips and was looking down at them.

“Why would you do that? We’d still be prettier than you.” Loki batted his eyelashes to prove his point.

Darcy growled before pouncing over and messing up Loki’s hair. He laughed while batting away her hands. Darcy shoved his shoulder before going back to her seat to pout.

“You guys are the worst. If Janey was here she’d defend me.” Darcy crossed her arms over her chest and looked longingly at the door. As if on cue, Jane walked in with her cat Caelum by her side. “Janey!”

“Darcy!” Jane said in an equally excited manner.

“Janey!”

“Darcy!”

“Janey!”

“Please stop,” Bucky said loudly as he dragged his hand down his face, looking like he was in pure agony.

The pair snickered and hugged each other.

“I taught Bork a trick!” Darcy leaned down and put her hand in the play pen. “Snuffle-Butt, come here.” Darcy’s pygmy puff skittered over.

“Great trick,” Loki deadpanned.

“Don’t make me kill you, Loki,” Darcy said in a pleasant voice, not looking away from Bork. “Watch this you guys.” She set Bork on a table. “Moon Prism Power!”

Bork froze for a moment before turning in a circle and lifting one paw up.

“I understood that reference!” Steve said while clapping.

Loki joined in on the clapping even though he didn’t get the reference. He’d ask, but he didn’t want to embarrass himself.

“How’d you teach her that?” Loki asked instead.

“Treats. Lots and lots of treats.” Darcy pulled out a small drawstring bag. She took out a dried cricket and Bork gobbled it up.

They spent the rest of their club meeting trying to teach Bertie to raise her paw while simultaneously making fun of Shield, Steve’s turtle.

*

Loki’s arms pinwheeled as someone grabbed him from behind and dragged him into a classroom. He was too stunned to let out any noise besides a startled gasp.

Loki was shoved into an uncomfortable chair in front a suspiciously composed Natasha.

“Bloody hell, Natasha!” Loki gripped his chest. His heart was hammering painfully.

Clint joined Natasha, both expressionless. He glanced backwards. Barney went to the door, acting as lookout.

“Your problems are starting to become my problems. I demand answers.” Natasha’s voice was commanding and despite her petite stature Loki was genuinely scared of her.

His defenses immediately went up.

“What are you talking about? Is Zola bullying you, too?” Nearly all the first years knew about how Zola treated him and Steve.

“Maria Hill and Heimdall Goldleif from the Ministry of Magic questioned you, Rogers, Barnes, Lehnsherr, and me today, in that order.”

Loki’s face screwed up in confusion.

“Caretaker Coulson said people wanted to see me, but when we got there he talked to two people and he said it was a mistake. Coulson asked about my studies and then I went to the pet club.” Loki shrugged. It was a bit odd, but nothing noteworthy.

“Think about it, Loki. You left breakfast halfway through and pet club starts half an hour after breakfast. Did your conversation with Coulson last that long?”

Loki paused in thought.

How long had they spoken for? It had been a polite conversation and Loki couldn’t actually remember what he had said specifically.

“Wait. But—” Loki couldn’t find any words.

“Goldleif had a memory charm on his watch,” Natasha explained.

“Then how do you remember?” Loki asked with venom in his voice. He was frustrated with his memory more than he was annoyed at her.

“I’m a Romanoff. I was taught to resist memory spells since I was four.” She sounded proud, yet Loki could see that there was something hidden in her expression, something painful.

“What did they ask you?” Loki’s gut started gnawing away at him. He was afraid of what she’d say, that she’d figure out what Loki and his friends were up to and use it against them.

Natasha Romanoff seemed to embody every negative aspect of Slytherin that made the other houses scorn them.

Natasha’s light green eyes seemed to analyze him. Loki wanted to squirm, but refused to.

“They were very interested in yours and Rogers’ health.” Their health? Loki’s mind began racing. Was this about Loki’s fall and the ghosts taunting him? And what about Steve? Loki knew he was sickly, but Loki doubted he was the only one. “I told them I didn’t really know Rogers and that you seemed pretty healthy to me.”

That was somewhat a relief.

But he knew Natasha and her lackeys had been monitoring Loki and his friends. He didn’t doubt that she knew about Steve’s stay at the Hospital Wing.

“Why are they interested in you and Rogers?”

“I don’t know,” Loki said hastily. Loki hated this. It wasn’t his fault that Professor Fury practically forced Loki to wear a strange ring. It wasn’t his fault that Zola bullied him.

It wasn’t his fault that everything seemed to be going wrong.

“Why are you lying to me?” Natasha pursed her lips before her features smoothed out. “Let me help you. We could be allies and friends. We’re Slytherins and purebloods. We’re supposed to stick together.” Natasha’s hands balled into fists before relaxing.

Loki blinked in confusion.

Her new angle was… not what he expected.

He didn’t know how to respond and ended up just gaping at her.

Natasha looked away from him and crossed her arms in front of her.

“Whatever. This is stupid. I have better things to do.” Natasha snapped her fingers and Clint and Barney followed her out.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unbeta-ed and unedited.

Loki couldn’t sleep. Every time he tried to concentrate on the missing conversation, his head pulsed painfully.

He decided to go see Tony in the Room of Lost Wands.

Getting there was a problem though.

Loki knew the way, but it was after hours. Loki was certain that he had was already the leading cause of Slytherin house points being lost. He didn’t want to give any of his housemates a reason to hate him.

He also didn’t want to get detention again.

Yet, Loki had to go. This newest mystery was too much for him to handle on his own.

No one stirred as he left the dorm and the common room had an upperclassman lounging in it, but he paid Loki no mind.

The dungeons felt colder than usual as he crept out.

He felt a sort of nervous excitement. This was different than all the other times he’d gone out after hours. This time he was alone.

Loki stuck close to the walls. He had his wand in hand, more for comfort than to do anything with. He knew that if he ran into anyone, he’d be no match for them.

He may be doing alright in his classes (excluding Transfigurations), but he still was a first year.

Finally, he made it to the Room of Lost Wands.

“Hey,” Loki said as he entered the room. His eyes immediately went to the glowing tree that was made of glass and lost wands. Its shifting colors were mesmerizing.

“Hey, Loki-Doki, have any trouble getting here?” Tony asked. He was standing with Jan and acting as a mannequin. She was fitting him with robes that had little skulls that were wearing pointy hats with the different house colors on them.

“Nope. Your sneakiness is rubbing off on me.” Loki grinned and went over to them. Jan gave him a little wave, focusing on not poking Tony with the pins. “What’s the outfit for?”

“Next Wednesday is Halloween. Jan thought I needed another robe to celebrate in.”

“It’s not fair that we have stupid regulation clothes! This place is stifling my creativity!” Jan ducked her head low and pretended to wipe away a tear. “Tony is my model, even though people hardly get to see him.”

“People are after my arse, Jan. I’m sticking to the shadows until things calm down.” Tony pouted at her and Loki chuckled.

Jan straightened out his collar, huffing to herself.

“If you really want to show off your clothes we can sneak off to Hogsmeade this weekend. It’s the first week older students can go. No one will pay attention to two more students.”  

“Even though you look like you’re 9?” Jan teased.

“He looks more like an 8-year-old,” Loki added in. Tony made a pained noise and Loki and Jan laughed.

Loki heard snuffling and glanced around the room. Bruce was over on a couch, fast asleep.

Jan pursed her lips.

“I’m not going to risk it, but if you’re going can you pick me up some leather? I’m thinking about doing a line of wand holsters. I’ll scrape up some money by next Friday.” Tony hummed in thought.

“I should be able to find something in Gladrags Wizardwear or at Dervish and Banges.”

“You’re the best.” Jan leaned over and put a smooch on Tony’s cheek. He blushed and Loki chuckled.

Loki sobered up, remembering his strange day.

“Do you know how to reverse memory spells?” Loki asked and both Jan and Tony looked at him with questioning looks. Loki bit his lip. “Natasha Romanoff said a memory spell was used on me today.”

“Brucie is better at memory spells than I am.” Tony looked over at his sleeping friend. “My son! Wake up!” Tony shouted.

Bruce made a snorting noise as he sat up abruptly.

“What?” Bruce tried to smooth out his fluffy hair, but it did no good.

“We have a mystery,” Jan said as she started taking the half-done robe off Tony.

Loki noticed that Tony was wearing PJs that had dragons on it. Loki held back his chuckle. The PJs really made Tony look even younger than he was.

“A mystery?” Bruce rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Jan looped her arms through Loki and Tony’s, dragging them over to where Bruce was sitting.

“A mystery?” Pepper parroted, startling them all. She’d just came into the room, her ferret around her neck. She was carrying a bag.

“Two mysteries,” Loki clarified.

“Even better!” She held up her bag. “My mum sent cookies!”

“Your mum makes the best cookies!” Tony tried to wiggle away from Jan, but her hold was unyielding. “Hey, we have all the houses here!”

“And then there’s you.” Pepper sat next to Bruce and the other three sat across from them. “Did you hear there’s a bounty on your head?”

“Uck! I know!” Tony dug into the bag Pepper handed over before pulling out a cooking and shoving it into his mouth. “Mysteries?” Crumbs fell out of his mouth as he spoke, grossing Loki out.

Loki took in a deep breath.

“Natasha Romanoff warned me that two people from the Ministry of Magic were coming to see me and Steve Rogers today. I don’t remember the meeting, but Natasha said that I met them and that they used a spell on me to make me forget.”

“A Romanoff?” Tony’s nose scrunched up. “They’re scary. Are you sure you can you trust her?”

“I think so? Natasha is… I don’t know how to describe her, but there is a chunk of my morning that is fuzzy.”

Bruce pulled his wand out from his pocket. There was a puff of lint on it.

“Let me see what I can do,” Bruce said. “ _ Spectare _ .” Bruce’s eyes widened and Loki’s heart sank. “There’s not just a memory erasing spell on you. There’s at least a dozen others.”

“Great,” Loki croaked out. Pepper handed him a cookie. Loki gave her a weak smile.

“There’s a lot of complex charms that even I couldn’t puzzle out. Maybe if it was just one, but they’re all knotted together.”

“It’s my ring, isn’t it?” Loki held up his hand, showing off the ring. “Professor Fury made me put it on the first day of classes, but didn’t tell me why.”

“ _ Spectare _ ,” Bruce tried again, this time aiming his wand at Loki’s ring. He squeezed his eyes shut a moment later. “Just looking at it gives me a headache.”

“Sounds like it’s right up my alley,” Tony sing-songed. “ _ Spectare _ .” Not a second after the spell was cast Tony went running off. “I need a paper and quill!”

“Do you remember who it was that came to see you from the ministry?” Jan asked while brushing crumbs off her robes.

“Heimdall Goldleif and Maria Hill.” Loki had memorized the names after his encounter with Natasha and her lackeys.

“Maria Hill?” Pepper perked up.

“You know her?”

“I know  _ of _ her. She won the Triwizard Tournament here when my mum was a student.” Pepper smiled softly. “My mum loves telling the story of how Maria outsmarted the other competitors.”

“That means there’s records of her in the library,” Bruce said.

“Alright, here’s the plan,” Pepper said, taking control of the situation. “Jan and I will go to the library and look for the records. I’ll also write my mum to ask her more about Maria Hill and if she knows a Heimdall Goldleif. Bruce and Tony will focus on deciphering the spells on you.” Pepper grabbed a cookie. “Loki, eat a cookie. You look famished.”

“Thanks, mum,” Loki said sarcastically, but ate the cookie.

Tony came back over with his writing implements.

“Get comfortable, Loki. This is going to take a while.”


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a shorter chapter because of bad planning on my part. I'll try to update this story every 2 weeks. I'm currently obsessed with writing my The Golden Rule fanfic so I don't have as much time as I'd like to.

* * *

Loki woke up to brown eyes staring at him. He blinked in confusion.

“Boop,” Tony said as he touched the tip of Loki’s nose. “If you want to have enough time to change out of your PJs before breakfast, you need to leave now.”

“It’s morning?” Loki squeaked. He couldn’t be seen running around in his ratty old PJs. They were hand-me-downs from Thor and barely fit him.

Loki groaned and turned onto his side, burying his face against the back of the couch.

“No to breakfast, then?” Tony snickered. “Fine by me. I’m still trying to figure out all these spells.”

After huffing to himself at the prospect of missing breakfast, Loki turned to see what Tony was up to. There was a multitude of parchments laid out with all sorts of scribblings ranging from astrology to mathematics.

Bruce was curled up beside Tony asleep. His arm was covering his eyes. Loki didn’t spot anyone else in the large room.

“Your findings, Professor Superior Stark?” Loki asked after he gathered his wits.

Tony shot him a humorous grin.

“Well, my dear student,” Tony pretended to adjust glasses, “this is a very complex problem. What initial caught my attention was a gravity hex.” Tony paused and grabbed a piece of parchment that had illegible scribbles on it. “It’s pretty much the opposite spell that’s placed on brooms, but each broom model has a different spell.” Tony leaned closer. “Now here’s the kicker. If we can figure out the model we can track down everyone who bought one and—”

“You’re reaching,” Bruce groaned out, startling Loki. “The spells on the different models are too similar and even if you did figure out which one, who knows how many were sold. You’re also assuming whoever charmed the ring couldn’t craft an original gravity hex.”

Tony blew a raspberry.

“Spoilsport.”

Bruce pushed himself into the sitting position.

“It’s not like we could even get ahold of the records for all the broomsticks sold around the world.”

“Brucie,” Tony whined while draping himself over him. “I wanna be the Auror.”

“Sorry, Tony. You get the data and I’ll put all the clues together.” Bruce patted Tony on the head.

“Distribution of labor,” Loki said, remembering his mum explaining it to him so that he’d do the dishes without whining. It hadn’t worked. “What other spells are there?”

“A few others, but the one that confuses me is the anti-luminous spell.” All the color drained away from Loki’s face. “What?” Tony asked, edging forward as if he was debating what to do.

“When I… got lost in the secret passageways ghosts attacked me. I talked to Professor Carter later on and she told me  _ Lumous _ spells would keep them away. Does that mean—” Loki started to shake. “Does that mean it’s the ring’s fault they attacked me?” A tear escaped his eyes. “Why me? Why did Fury make me wear this stupid ring?”

Loki grabbed the ring and tried to pull it off. It didn’t budge and Loki’s breathing became pained gasps.

Tony jumped over the cluttered table between them and grabbed Loki’s hands.

“It’s not going to come off,” Tony said in an even voice. He squeezed Loki’s hand and it almost felt comforting. “One of the strongest spells keeps the ring bonded to your finger,” he explained. “If you give me enough time though, I’m sure I can unravel it.”

“Really?” Loki asked, his voice cracking.

“Yeah. Me and Brucie will figure this out and Pep and Jan will get to the bottom of who Maria Hill is.”

“I feel like such a burden,” Loki whispered, looking away from Tony

“Pff, no way. You’re not a burden. I live for this sort of stuff. It gets boring, skulking around the castle and Hogsmeade. You just gave me the best gift ever.” Tony smiled brightly and Loki felt a bit of his confidence return.

“You’re welcome. I expect you to do a good job, Professor Superior Stark.”

Bruce groaned.

“Don’t call him that. His ego is already too big.” Bruce rubbed the bridge of his nose, looking more tired than usual.

Tony snickered.

“My son, don’t you know that you’re Professor Superior Stark Junior?” Tony went to Bruce’s side and patted him on the back loudly.

“Look what you’ve done, Loki. He’ll never stop now,” Bruce scolded, but was smiling fondly.

It suddenly occurred to Loki that these people were his friends. That he’d made  _ more _ friends.

The ever-present worry of being alone faded away.

*

When Loki made it back to his dorm, nearly everyone was painting each other’s faces green and silver.

Loki blinked in confusion before remembering they had a Quidditch match against Ravenclaw today. Loki sighed in relief, happy that he hadn’t missed it.

“Where have you been?” Natasha asked, as usual, startling him. Compared to everyone else, her face paint was downright terrifying. The green paint seemed to be enchanted to look like a snake that slithered around and occasionally went around her throat, as if it was choking her.

“Out drinking.” Loki said without thinking, remembering Thor once telling him that the older students sometimes disappeared to drink.

He held back a cringe. That was by far the worst lie he ever told. He was almost disappointed at himself for his lack of smoothness.

“I don’t know why you feel the need to keep things from me. I’m trying to help you.” A few eyes turned towards them, overhearing their conversation.

He didn’t want to deal with this right now, but he was tired of her stalker like behavior and her weirdness.

“Natasha, you’ve had Clint follow me around, had Barney checking in on me, and you guys dragged me into a room to interrogate me. How did any of those things help me?” Loki asked, not being able to stop himself.

Natasha glanced around them and Barney stepped forward in silent support of her, proving Loki’s point.

“I told you about the memory charm.”

“Yeah, only because you were annoyed that you didn’t know what was going on.” Loki held back a sigh. “I’m sorry that the ministry messed with you two, but it’s as big of a mystery to me as it is to you.” Loki paused. “Can you just… back off?”

A few students ‘ohh-ed’ at them, not helping the situation at all.

Natasha’s face became red and the painted-on snake thrashed its tail violently. Her hands balled up into fists and Loki half expected her to pull out her wand. Instead, Natasha stomped off to the girls’ dorm.

Loki sighed in relief before worry set back in.

That was going to bite him in the bum later.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay! I'm really caught up in writing my The Golden Rule story~
> 
> Thanks to my dear Temul for betaing!

* * *

 

Monday morning’s breakfast started with a Howler.

“Congratulations on winning your first Quidditch match, Pietro!” the Howler shouted in Pietro’s father’s voice. “Slytherin! Slytherin! Slytherin!”

Loki’s table started chanting along with the Howler, even after it tore itself to bits.

Loki joined in, still high on yesterday’s victory.

The only one who wasn’t chanting was Natasha. Loki felt a bit bad, but didn’t know what to do about it. He wanted her to leave him alone, but he didn’t want her to be sad.

“Enough,” Headmaster Stark said, using his wand to amplify his voice.

The Slytherins quieted down to just snickering.

Loki glanced over to the Ravenclaw table. They were all fuming.

He spotted Jane and stuck his tongue out at her. She mirrored his expression before they both started smiling at each other.

He felt secure in their friendship—in all his friendships.

Loki hadn’t expected to find friends at Hogwarts and despite his damned ring, his first year was going surprisingly well.

*

Monday slipped into Tuesday and before Loki’s dreaded Transfigurations class, Jan gave him a thick folder of parchments.

“Everything Pepper and I could dig up on Maria Hill,” she whispered as she walked past him and into the classroom.

Loki tucked it away in his robes.

Steve gave him a confused looking, having seen their interaction from a distance.

“I have something to tell you all,” Loki said while gesturing for Jane to come over. “Bring Darcy and Bucky to our spot in the library after dinner.”

“Sure, I’ll get Darce. What’s up?” Jane asked while glancing into the classroom.

Loki bit his lip. He hadn’t told them about him, Steve, and Bucky having their memories altered.

It was still hard for him to believe.

“It’s a long story.” Loki sighed and looked towards the classroom.

Jane patted Loki and Steve on the shoulder.

“You two’ve got this,” Jane reassured them. Zola had been a bit calmer since Tony reported him to the headmaster, but he still harped at them.

Loki went to his seat, front and center.

Zola grinned creepily.

Loki hoped his studying paid off.

*

Loki was oddly anxious.

What if they didn’t believe him?

He was the last one to make it to their usual spot in the library after dinner, mostly because he’d been dragging his feet. He’d just credit it to being sure Natasha wasn’t following him.

Loki was greeted with smiles.

He took in a deep breath as he sat down.

“Last Saturday two people from the Ministry of Magic came. They questioned Steve, Bucky, Pietro, Natasha, and me and then cast a memory spell, making us forget,” he said, watching their reactions carefully.

“What?” Steve squeaked out.

“Caretaker Coulson got me during breakfast and the next thing I remember was him telling me he’d accidentally gotten the wrong person. Did something like that happen to you guys?” Loki looked at Steve and Bucky.

The pair glanced at each other. Darcy and Jane looked uncomfortable.

“Yeah, the same thing happened to me after lunch,” Bucky said, his brow furrowing. “Steve disappeared for an hour in the evening, but I figured he was on the loo.”

Darcy snorted.

Steve’s ears turned red and he elbowed Bucky in the side. Bucky laughed, but it was subdued.

“How did you know that really happened?” Steve asked, still glaring at Bucky.

Here’s where things got tricky. Loki didn’t really trust Natasha and his friends had no reason to trust her either.

Loki relayed what she’d told him.

“There’s more. I asked Tony and Bruce to look at my ring.” Loki thumbed the ring, hating it. “They’re still trying to puzzle it out. But in the meantime, Jan van Dyne and Pepper—”

“The chairman of the pet club?” Darcy said before blushing. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt. She’s my idol.” Darcy sighed whimsically as she thought about the other Hufflepuff.

“You’re so weird,” Jane commented.

“Totally weird,” Bucky agreed.

“The weirdest.” Steve nodded sagely.

“Couldn’t get weirder.”

“You guys are so mean.” Darcy groaned and hid her face.

“She has a crush on her,” Jane said. Darcy shoved her without looking up.

“Pepper is pretty,” Steve said and Darcy bolted out of her seat.

“Pepper’s mine!” She pointed at Steve.

“Anyway, I have Astronomy after this so can we get back to talking about having our memories messed with?” Loki gave them each a look and Darcy sat back on her seat. “Jan and Pepper were able to look up one of the people from the ministry, since she went here.” Loki pulled out the parchment Jan had given him. “Maria Elizabeth Hill,” he read. “She went to Hogwarts fifteen years ago and won the Triwizard Tournament.”

“Go Hogwarts,” Steve said dully. Loki smirked at him.

Loki smoothed down the parchment and took on an air of professionalism.

He wasn’t fooling anyone.

“According to an old article in The Daily Prophet, she had to fight against muzzled werewolves in the final challenge.”

“Wow,” Darcy said, sounding breathless.

“That’s wicked dangerous.” Everyone in the group looked uncomfortable.

Loki continued, “She was a Hufflepuff. Pepper also found an article in the Huff about Maria Hill receiving perfect marks in Study of Ancient Runes.” Loki paused. “I don’t know if that’s important,” he mumbled. “She’s listed as having gone to work for the Ministry of Magic after graduating Hogwarts.”

The rest of the parchment just had miscellaneous information.

“Both my parents work for the Ministry of Magic,” Bucky said and motioned for Loki to hand over the parchment. Loki did so and Bucky scanned over it. “It doesn’t say which department she works for, but I’m sure one of my parents will know.” Bucky pulled out a fresh piece of parchment from his bag along with a quill and ink.

“Are you sure we should contact them? We might be showing our cards,” Jane said, picking up the discarded parchment about Maria Hill. Bucky’s quill halted, mid-dunk in the ink.

“I have a solution!” Darcy snatched up Bucky’s parchment. “My aunt works for The Daily Prophet. I’ll tell her I’m doing a project on past Hogwarts students and where they are now.” Darcy grabbed her automatic-inking quill and began writing. “What is the name of the other person? I’ll say that my friend is writing a report on them.”

“Heimdall Goldlief.” Loki spelled out the name for her.

“Anything else I should ask before I head to the owlery?” Darcy said, not looking up from her writing.

“I can’t think of anything.” Loki stood up. “I have to head to Astronomy. I’ll see you guys later.”

They parted ways. Loki sighed, dreading having to scale so many stairs and being in the same class as Thor.

*

Everyone was abuzz with Halloween cheer. They were allowed to dress up for the day and many students had donned costumes.

Loki wished he’d known about that earlier. He loved dressing up.

Jack-o-lanterns were floating everywhere. A few had been charmed by upper-classmen to vomit up seeds and pumpkin guts when anyone went under them.

Bats fluttered about all day, despite being nocturnal.

Loki was energized by the merriment around him—until someone pointed out that the ghosts were usually scaring up a storm on Halloween.

Loki couldn’t bring himself to pocket his wand, instead holding it in his hand between classes.

His worry was clear. Jane, Steve, and even Natasha asked him if he was alright.

Loki was just starting to relax during the Halloween feast when the doors to the hall opened with a bang.

A gagged and chained up Tony Stark was being led to the front of the hall by a group of Hufflepuffs and Slytherins.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter, but a chapter none the less!!!

Rhodey was the first one to react. He hopped to his feet at the Gryffindor table, pulling out his wand.

“ _ Omnia Expelliarmus! _ ” Rhodey shouted. A blur of white light burst from his wand and split into six, each heading for one of the students flanking Tony.

Headmaster Stark apparated between Rhodey and the other students.

“ _ Protego!” _ A translucent shield formed, catching Rhodey’s spell.

Pepper joined in.

“ _ Oppungo! _ ” Food from the Hufflepuff table took flight, zooming towards the ones holding Tony captive.

The feasting hall broke out into chaos.

Loki didn’t know what to do as students rushed to get out of the way while others pulled out their wands. The professors and Caretaker Coulson tried to get through the throngs.

Loki heard Jan let out a battle cry.

He spotted FitzSimmons clamber onto the top of the Ravenclaw table, casting complimentary spells in tandem.

Loki found his resolve.

He stood up to act, but an older Slytherin tackled him to the ground.

“I’m not going to let a first year ruin our chances of winning the house cup!” the Slytherin hissed in Loki’s ear.

Loki heard Thor roar in anger and the older Slytherin was pulled off Loki and thrown against a table.

Thor hoisted Loki up and Loki squawked at the indignity of it. He tried to raise his wand, but there was a flash of orange and then silence.

Loki tried to speak, but the words were caught in his throat.

“Enough,” Headmaster Stark said, breaking the unnatural silence. “150 house points to both Slytherin and Hufflepuff. Minus 10 points for every student who cast a spell without permission. James Rhodes, Janet van Dyne, Virginia Potts, Jemma Simmons, and Leopold Fitz will report to my office immediately.” Stark glanced towards Coulson. “Escort them.”

“You have no right to chain him up!” Pepper shouted, somehow breaking the charm that had kept her silent. “If Tony doesn’t want to be sorted, then he shouldn’t be!”

Stark made a horizontal slash with his wand and Pepper’s lips became glued together.

“Anthony is a minor. He doesn’t get any special privileges.” He turned away from her. “Coulson.”

“Come on, kids,” Coulson said in a calming tone that didn’t fit the situation. “I’d rather not have to use a spell on you to get you moving.”

Rhodey and Pepper exchanged a look before nodding at Jan and FitzSimmons. Jan looked enraged, but didn’t try to fight.

When they were all gone, Headmaster Stark summoned up a stool and the Sorting Hat. Loki pried himself from Thor, eyes not leaving Tony.

Tony tried to fight as he was dragged to the front of the room.

The silencing charm ended and the room was filled with whispers and Tony’s muffled yells.

Loki bit his lip.

He wanted to do something, but knew it was of no use.

“What is this!?” the Sorting Hat shouted while looking around. “It’s not September! I don’t have a song prepared. Howard! I don’t have a song prepared!”

“Fuck off!” Tony said clearly, despite the gag.

The Sorting Hat unbent itself, somehow looking affronted.

“Anthony—”

“Fuck you, Howard!”

The other students’ whispers grew louder.

Professor Carter stepped forward.

“Tony,” she said in a half-scolding manner. He glared at her, but didn’t say anything. She shooed away the students who had captured Tony. She put her hand on Tony’s shoulder and led him to the dais where the stool was. “It’s time.”

Professor Carter dispelled the chains and cloth gag.

Tony rubbed his jaw, but didn’t put up a fight. He sat on the stool and glared as the Sorting Hat was put on his head.

“Ah! A Stark! No wonder! You’re a tricky one!” the hat said.

Tony made a face.

“I wouldn’t go that far,” the hat said in response to something Tony thought.

The Sorting Hat gasped.

“Rude! Very rude! Time-honored tradition, I tell you! Howard! Your son is very rude.”

Headmaster Stark brushed a hand over his face while sighing.

Students started debating which house Tony would be sorted in as time dragged on with no resolution.

“I very well can’t do that!” the Sorting Hat shouted nearly ten minutes in, startling the students who had lost interest in the whole thing. “No, no, no! Traditions are sacred!”

Tony was grinning devilishly making Loki smile.

“It is my sacred duty—” There was a pause. “Listen here, you brat!”

Tony laughed loudly. Headmaster Stark was scowling.

“Unmanageable!” the hat gasped. “You pipsqueak! Fine! I’ll have to scrap the new song I’m working on, but it’s better than hearing you belittle me!” The Sorting Hat puffed up before billowing, “House Stark!”

Silence overtook the hall again—Only to be broken by Loki laughing. Tony joined in as he chucked the hat aside.

“What?!” Headmaster Stark shouted, cutting off their laughter. Stark grabbed the hat by its top and shoved it back on Tony’s head. Tony tried to squirm away, but Stark grabbed his shoulder and kept him in place.

“Fuck off, Howard!”

“5 points from Stark for swearing,” Carter said while moving forward.

“Serves him right!” the Sorting Hat said indignantly.

“Shut up, you head-hopper! I bet you have lice!” Tony shouted while trying to remove it. The Sorting Hat gasped.

“You fiend! How dare you—1,000 points from Stark! A million points from Stark! Detention! Expulsion!”

With a wave of Professor Carter’s wand, the Sorting Hat disappeared.

“Howard, the hat has spoken,” Carter said. Professor Fury came over to them and pried Howard’s hand off Tony’s shoulder.

The trio had a hushed conversation as Tony ran out of the hall, winking at Loki as he went by.


End file.
